STAR WARS RETRIBUTION
by DhuryamDhuryam
Summary: A continuation of the events started in FRACTURE. After months of disappearances Clone Wars era droidships have returned, employing unconventional and frighteningly effective tactics. Tycho Skywalker and the Jedi believe this is the work of a powerful Sith Lord. But the truth is far worse than anyone had imagined.


StarWars-Retribution

By DhuryamDhuryam

Dramatis Personae

Allana Skywalker; Jedi Knight (female human)

Armedius "Krayt" Krey'tnarov; Jedi Knight (male Bothan)

Asyr Bwua'tu; Admiral (female Bothan)

Enzetti Lah; Jedi Knight (female Yuuzhan Vong)

Hemir Hodon; Jedi Knight (male Chiss)

Jed Haasef; Intelligence Director (male Devaronian)

Jula Darklighter; pilot (male human)

Nelani Skywalker; Jedi Master (female human)

Tsetti Lah; Jedi Knight (female Yuuzhan Vong)

Tycho Skywalker; Jedi Master (male human)

Not quite as long ago, in a galaxy far, far away-

256 ABY

Chapter 1

Tingle Arm

It must have been a dream, Enzeek decided. He felt weightless, as though he were floating. Then, he noticed that his door was open and he was floating toward it. There was a horrific buzzing sound-the alarm on his chrono. But why wasn't he... Enzeek was already awake!

The Twi'lek grabbed onto the doorway as to not be swept out into the hall. He caught his comlink as it sailed toward him. Enzeek pressed the silver call button; his personal A-wing would come and retrieve him.

He could now hear a whistling sound, which was getting louder, and breathing was becoming difficult. And Enzeek could hear screaming. He saw one of his neighbors go flailing past. The Twi'lek pulled his legs up. He was barely hanging on as it was. If he tried to help, they'd both die.

Enzeek heard a sharp shrieking sound, made all the more shrill by the thin air. He turned around to see an A-wing, with its cockpit open. The Twi'lek made a few quick mental calculations and let go of the doorway. He landed roughly in the cockpit.

Enzeek turned the fighter around so that he didn't have to struggle against the escaping air. This would still be quite dangerous; he could collide headlong into a bulkhead. But, with his ship's concealed weapons and familiarity with the space-bound habitation's layout, he could easily blast his way out. It was illegal for a civilian to have an armed vessel, though he imagined he'd be forgiven that offense when he told someone what had happened. The A-wing blasted out of the _Lukrehulk_-class droid control ship.

Enzeek frowned; the stars were different. This was not the Yavin system; the ship had moved. This must have been where those other ships had been disappearing to. Enzeek pulled out his comlink and took an image of the starfield. A beep brought his attention to his sensor board. Without waiting to figure out what they were he engaged the hyperdrive.

Shedu Maad

"protesting cuts enacted by the Senate," a male Duros reporter was saying. "The whole purpose of the cuts is to provide more funding to the defense budget."

"Wow," Hemir commented. "I didn't know the Senate could outpace a glacier."

"Many of the Senators own stock in the ship building industry," Allana Skywalker, seated beside Hemir on the couch, explained. She looked very much like her distant relative, after whom she was named, Allana Solo. She had the same cute little button of a nose, the same dark red hair and the same high cheekbones. Though her right eye was green and the left eye was blue.

"Saving their bums, or anatomical equivalents," Hemir agreed.

"In other news," continued the reporter, "Chief of State Brand has given his support to the use of Midichlore. The highly controversial drug, also known as Jedi Juice, injects a virus into the bloodstream that alters the cells' genetic code to produce midichlorians, the organisms which enable beings to tap into the Force."

"That man is a buffoon," Hemir commented.

Tycho Skywalker, Allana's father, entered the room moments later. "That was the Galactic Federation," the Jedi Master said. "Admiral Asyr Bwua'tu, specifically. They're worried about those droids ships that have been disappearing. We'll be heading out to Coruscant within two hours."

Aside from the blue eyes, he looked nothing like his ancestor, Luke Skywalker. He had long, dark red hair like his daughter. And despite the stern expression to which his face often defaulted, he was generally quite genial. He was also just a tad taller.

"We ought to pack," Allana said, turning to Hemir.

Coruscant

Hemir looked through his X-wing's canopy at the magnificent dagger shaped vessel orbiting Coruscant. A _Vanquisher_-class Star Destroyer. The modern day equivalent of the Super Star Destroyer. It was noticeably wider, which gave the vessel greater forward firing capabilities. The rear corners of the triangular body were swept back, like the head of a baby hammerhead but more pronounced. Engines at these corners helped the ship turn about more quickly. A smaller triangular section made up the tail section. And it was called the _Vanquisher_. "Blimey, they sure how to name their ships," Hemir had commented earlier.

Tycho and his wife Nelani were ready waiting for the five other Jedi in one of the _Vanquisher's_ hangar bays. Nelani was rather tiny. Her face was very similar to Allana's, though her nose wasn't button-shaped and both her eyes were green. And she had brownish hair.

Setting down onto the flight deck behind Hemir and Allana were the Yuuzhan Vong twins Tsetti and Enzetti. And to their right was Armedius, a Bothan Jedi.

A Mon Calamarian officer led the Jedi to an ops room. She seemed awfully nervous to Tycho. Things must have gotten more serious. Everyone on the ship seemed on edge, as though waiting for something terrible.

At the head of an oval shaped table was a young Bothan woman, having cream colored fur with light orange splotches and large violet eyes, wearing a white admiral's uniform. Admiral Bwua'tu. At just twenty four years old she'd managed to reach this rank.

Her father was a senator. And when Ossus had been attacked by Imperial extremists both father and daughter had condemned the action and convinced the Galactic Federation to send aid. Tycho was grateful that he'd be working with a supporter of the Jedi.

A holographic representation of the galaxy materialized above the table as the Jedi and other officers took their seats.

"About three months ago droid ships, such as those in use during the Clone Wars began disappearing in and around the Corporate Sector," said the Director of Intelligence, a Devaronian man. "About two hours ago we received a report from the Yavin system of another such disappearance." The corresponding areas on the holomap lit up red.

Moments later, the holograph representing the galaxy was replaced by a vessel resembling a large, whitish ring with a gap at the front. In the center, connected to the ring was a massive sphere-where the 'brain' of the ship was-with a couple communication towers. And at the end, of course were the engines, near which were more, similar towers. A _Lukrehulk_-class droid control ship.

"And shortly after that a civilian living on the vessel, who shall remain nameless, reported that the gravity had been deactivated and many of the airlocks had been opened. The individual managed to escape in a personal craft. And according to an image he took of the surrounding starfield, the ship had jumped to a location deep in the tingle arm. It is reasonable to believe that those responsible, perhaps Imperial terrorists, are based there."

"Thank you, Director Haasef." Admiral Bwua'tu turned to address the others gathered at the table. "As you all know these Imperial terrorist groups are not supported by the majority of the Empire, which is considerably more moderate. So these extremists will take whatever ships they find. We have sent surveillance droids into the Tingle Arm to learn more about their activities.

"A fleet led by the _Vanquisher_ will at some point enter the system, and we will hopefully be able to put an end to this threat." She looked at Tycho. "Master Tycho Skywalker, you and your accompanying Jedi were summoned to provide us with your… perspective on this."

The Admiral spoke with a subtle Adumarian accent. When Asyr was just a child her mother had died in a speeder crash. The other driver had been drunk. A few years later her father married a human woman from Adumar. Her strong accent soon rubbed off on both father and daughter.

Tycho could feel the Director of Intelligence staring at him. The Jedi Master hadn't spoken a single word and already the man didn't like him. He took a deep breath. "I believe it is more than just Imperial terrorists." The Devaronian was staring at Tycho as though he was a complete nutter. "Just over a year ago, on a mission to the Chiss Ascendency, we encountered an evil presence. It caused tribes on the planets we visited to war with one another. The issues were more or less resolved. And then the presence seemed to disappear. It must have been aboard a ship that entered hyperspace. We believe it is the spirit of a powerful Sith Lord."

Hemir gently squeezed Allana's hand. During that mission the two Jedi had gone to investigate a Killik nest. There he'd met and fallen in love with the Joiner of the two nests, a Falleen girl named Ni'Kira. But the nest was actually two nests. Each of these nests had taken one of the Jedi as their Joiner, and in an ensuing battle-no doubt precipitated by this evil presence-Ni'Kira had been killed. By none other than Allana herself.

Although Allana knew she hadn't been in her right mind at the time, she still could scarcely believe that Hemir had never been angry with her about it. He even sought comfort from her. She gently squeezed Hemir's hand in response.

"Emperor Palpatine, perhaps," the Devaronian suggested. There was a touch of mockery in the man's voice.

"Palpatine wasn't the only powerful Sith Lord," Tycho responded. "There are a vast number of them we're not even aware of."

"Of course there are."

The Admiral's feelings in the Force suggested she wanted to bite the gundark's head off. "And what are your feelings concerning our mission to the Tingle Arm?" she asked the Jedi Master.

"Despite your use of surveillance droids, this could still turn out to be an ambush. Perhaps they  
know you'll bring the _Vanquisher_. They could figure this out without the help of a Force user. Or it could merely be a ploy to get some of your ships out of Galactic Alliance territory to make it more vulnerable to attack."

"We have considered that," the admiral said. "And we have a fleet in standby for that scenario."

"That is wise, but I still have a very bad feeling about this."

"We'll need more than a mere feeling, I'm afraid," the Director said.

"Well, it will be a few days before the fleet launches," Admiral Bwua'tu said. "Perhaps Master Skywalker will acquire new information by then. Are there any additional questions or concerns?"

Hemir's prosthetic left arm went up.

"Go ahead, Jedi Hodon."

"Did this particular habitation have any elements of a droid assault force?" It was common for war vessels that were converted into habitations to have small museums, displaying items used at the time of said ship's service.

"The civilian did not say. Though, I imagine that if whoever did this could take control of the ship, then it wouldn't be too difficult for them to reactivate said droids. They could use the droid fighters. However, ground assaults with such antiquated machinery would have limited effectiveness. But, I suppose they could be used for something."

"I'm going to check out my flat," Hemir told Allana as the Jedi finished eating a bland meal in the mess hall.

Allana checked her comlink for her room assignment. "We'll meet up after we get settled in, then."

After passing through a few hallways they both stopped in front of the same door. Allana stared at Hemir. "This is the room I was assigned," he said.

Just then the two Jedi felt someone jogging toward them. A young man in an Ensign's uniform approached them with a datapad in his hand. He was stocky with short cropped blond hair. He nodded toward the door. "Sorry about that." He looked at Hemir and laughed awkwardly. "You see, I thought 'Hemir' was a girl's name. I can fix-"

"It's okay…" Allana read the lad's name tag. "Ensign Darklighter. We're best friends."

"And she's adorable," Hemir added. He reached toward Allana to touch her nose, and she batted his hand away. She shook her head; Hemir had developed this strange obsession with her nose. Allana turned toward the door and palmed the activation panel.

"The decorators have absolutely smashing taste, don't they?" Hemir gestured at the sparse interior of their quarters after they went in. On each side was a bed with an accompanying desk. And in the back was a door to the 'fresher.

Chapter 2

Along with Trade Federation and Separatist vessels the enemy fleet also included eleven modern day Star Destroyers. Nelani reached out to the enemy fleet in the Force, and felt not one living presence. The Star Destroyers also were crewed entirely by droids.

Nelani felt another one of her squadron mates die as a flaming Vulture droid crashed into his X-wing. Along with Tycho and Allana, she'd been given command of her own squadron. A few kilometers to port an ally Star Destroyer detonated under a merciless barrage from a massive ring-like _Lukrehulk_. Despite how much larger the droid control ship was the three century old vessel shouldn't have been able to take down a modern Star Destroyer. To make matters worse one of the captured Star Destroyers had gravity well projectors. Unless those devices were disabled the Galactic Federation fleet was stuck.

"Commence the run," said a voice from Nelani's intercom. The three Jedi and what remained of their squadrons, along with a group of Corellian Corvettes left the main part of the fleet. The goal as horrible as it sounded was for one of the Corvettes to ram the target Star Destroyer, which of course was the most heavily guarded ship in the enemy flotilla. One by one the Corvettes were destroyed or disabled.

The last one broke in two as its middle sustained more damage than it could handle.

And now the Jedi and their partial squadrons were alone, with no support. Nelani's sensors showed a squadron of undamaged tri-fighters approaching. They would fight to the death, and the Skywalker line would be destroyed.

This wouldn't be happening if the _Vanquisher_ and her fleet hadn't left for the Tingle Arm just over a day ago. By the time that fleet returned everyone here would be dead. Fortunately, Hemir, Armedius, and the Twins were with the _Vanquisher_.

One of the tri-fighters deliberately crashed into Allana's X-wing.

Tycho woke up to the sound of his wife screaming. "Nel, what's wrong?" he asked as he used the Force to activate the light. He could feel her heart hammering in her chest. Both intense horror and relief permeated the Force.

"They killed our baby," she mumbled between sobs.

In a panic, Tycho reached out to their daughter. She was unharmed. "In your dream, you mean."

She nodded. "If the fleet goes to the Tingle," she paused as another sob escaped her.

"Tingle Arm," Tycho said.

She nodded. "We all die."

Tycho punched a number into his comlink.

"Admiral Bwua'tu speaking," answered a somewhat groggy voice.

"It's Tycho Skywalker. I need to speak with you right now."

Hemir and Allana were walking to the mess hall, barely aware they were holding hands. Hemir stopped upon hearing a heated argument around the corner.

"It's not polite to…" Allana trailed off.

"You can't do this, admiral. We need to hit this group at their heart. The longer we delay the more they can fortify their position." Hemir recognized the Director Haasef's voice.

"I trust the judgment of these Jedi; they can see things that others, such as yourself, cannot."

"If you do this then I will have no choice but to get you removed from your post. You'll be lucky to be an ensign."

An angry Devaroniun man came stalking down the corridor, muttering under his breath. He glared at the two Jedi as he passed them. "You people are going to ruin everything."

Hemir briefly considered making a comment about how the Jedi had ruined the Empire, but decided not to further antagonize the man.

Jula Darklighter concentrated on the sock. A smile spread across his face as it moved. He'd received the injection of Midichlore just a few days ago, and already it was working. It would take a lot of practice. But he was going to become a Jedi!

Jula understood the controversy. While most people agreed that it would be good for the military, there were some that feared that it would corrupt people. Jula thought it was a good idea. Yes, he was sure that it would cause some people to go bad. But they'd be vastly outnumbered by those who used it for good.

He was completely against its use outside of the military. Were it to be made available to the public, it would no doubt be very expensive. The rich, some of them crime lords and politicians, would be the ones to get it.

And others, such as the Jedi were against its use in any circumstances. They felt that control over the Force belonged only to those who were born with it. As though they were some elitist group or something.

"I am doing what I can to delay the launch," Admiral Bwua'tu said. "But I'm encountering a lot of resistance. From the Chief of State, the Senate, Intelligence."

Tycho looked at his feet and shook his head. "I would hate for it to come to this, but…" he bit his lip.

"You're considering interfering."

"If we do nothing millions of people are going to die."

"What would you do?"

"I don't know, yet."

"If there's anything I can-"

"No. I can't let you lose your career over this. In fact it could even be considered treason. And if you were convicted..."

"If you fail because I didn't help, then according to you and Nelani, we'll be in so much dung that the GF won't be able to afford that sort of action. And I could very well die in battle, anyway."

Tycho realized he couldn't keep the kid-the admiral was only a year older than his daughter-from acting if she so chose. "You have a very good point. I will tell you if you can help. What else did you want to discuss?"

"You're not going to like it. You know about the Midichlore trials. The military wants you to train the subjects in the Force."

"That might not end well."

"I understand that. But I have no say in this."

"We'll do what we can, but if anything goes we'll be blamed for it." The trainees would be well past the ideal age and many would not meet the over ambitious standards that would no doubt be set; Luke Skywalker did it, though. And some would end up turning to the dark side. There were all sorts of other things that could go wrong in addition to that.

"There's no bloody way they can learn all this _that _fast," Hemir complained.

"I know," Tycho said. "I'm afraid we're going to look bad enough when this fails. But, if we don't even try to teach these people we're going to look even worse."

"And there'd be a greater chance of these people misusing the Force," Nelani said.

Corporate Sector

Like all his other ex-wives, Dorgan's current one had complained that he was more in love with his 'flying scrap heap' than her. And, perhaps that was true. He did seem to see beauty in the _Kintan Strider_ that no one else saw. The _Kintan Strider_ had been damaged and repaired so many times that its current crew could only guess as to what make of freighter it had once been so many years ago.

Dorgan gazed out the forward viewport-one of them, anyway-at the magnificent ship to which his crew would be making their delivery. It was a _Munificent_-class star frigate. Such ships had come into service during the Clone Wars, almost three hundred years ago. Many such ships had been disappearing of late. Something was about to happen, and Dorgan was glad to be part of a harmless freighter crew.

Movement on the outside of the massive vessel caught Dorgan's eye. It was probably nothing. He had not been getting much sleep as of late. But that was understandable, since he was going through yet another divorce.

"Zir," hissed the voice of his Barabel pilot, Xarfa. Her lisp was very pronounced, even for a member of her species. "Zome of zee lazer batteriez have moved."

More movement on the outside of the star frigate brought him back to the present. So perhaps Dorgan wasn't such a nutter. He wasn't concerned, though. "The crew is just making sure the weapons are functional. They may have to use them someday."

The _Kintan Strider_ made her way to the front of the _Munificent_-class star frigate. Suddenly, the smaller ship shook and the bridge was plunged into complete darkness. A subtle humming started as the emergency power source kicked in. The various monitor screens lit up, giving the room a small amount of light.

Again the ship shook. But it didn't lose power this time. Xarfa hissed loudly and scrambled away from her station. She stared at her left hand. It had been badly burned, pink where the scales were missing.

"Why are zay attacking uz!"

Dorgan ignored her and made his way to the nearest functional terminal. He didn't think help would come in time for them, but at least he could warn others of this. Whatever this was.

_Vanquisher_

"All nearby military vessels, this is the freighter _Kintan Strider_. We are under attack by a Munif-" The transmission abruptly ended.

"_Munificent_-class star frigate," Tycho said, frowning.

Chapter 3

Admiral Asyr Bwua'tu, like everyone else in the ops center, was still in her pajamas when Hemir and Allana walked into the room, holding hands as usual. They claimed they were only friends. Of course Tycho knew, even if they didn't, that it was more than that.

Hemir wore painfully bright orange shorts with an indigo jumping spider on the side-the emblem of the Bastion Ettercaps, a splatball team-and a Bantha Crows at Dawn shirt; the kid loved his classical rock. Tycho suppressed a smirk upon seeing a man wearing Void Rider pajamas. He looked at the chronometer; it was two sixteen in the morning.

"A fleet of droid ships was reported dropping out of hyperspace near Myrkr. The fleet's reentry coordinates suggest that it's taking a hyperspace lane that leads to the Bilbringi Shipyards. So it is reasonable to assume they plan to attack." The admiral's voice was very groggy. She took a long swig of caf before continuing. "We revert to realspace in an hour. Have your fighters ready to launch in forty five. Or receive a dock in pay."

Asyr Bwuat'tu felt just a tad guilty over the small amount of relief she felt. Delaying the launch to the Tingle Arm was no longer an issue. And the people harassing her, including that dolt of an intelligence officer, would see that the Jedi were right.

A few minutes later Hemir was sealing the closure of his vac suit around his prosthetic left arm. He put on is helmet, walked up a crate as though it were a stair, and leapt the rest of the way to his X-wing's cockpit. Hemir munched on a FiberPrime bar as he waited to launch. Another pilot, hurrying to her fighter, popped a handful of caf beans into her mouth.

The enemy fleet consisted entirely of Separatist and Trade Federation vessels. Clearly not Imperial terrorists; they'd have at least some Star Destroyers. The fact that whoever was behind this seemed to think that three hundred year old ships could stand against modern warships concerned Admiral Bwua'tu.

Through one of the forward viewports Admiral Bwua'tu saw of the ancient _Lukrehulk _droid control ships dispersed among the fifteen modern day Star Destroyers under construction. Aside from the droid fighters exiting the vessels were C-9979 landing craft. Their purpose was to carry ground assault forces down to the surface of a planet. Or a Star Destroyer!

The admiral sighed. "We need to destroy those Star Destroyers before they can be captured." It was a good tactic, forcing an enemy to destroy their own ships. "Target and destroy all inactive ships."

Crimson fire began raining from the _Vanquisher's_ starboard side. The Star Destroyers, unprotected by deflector shields, began gushing flames and turning into red-orange orbs of fire.

"Launch the fighters," the admiral ordered the squadron commanders, who would pass it on to their pilots. "But stay close." Nelani was somewhat nervous about the approaching battle. What if her vision still came to pass? She used a calming technique to push down her emotions. "Engage s-foils," commed her husband's voice.

Armedius piloted an X-wing Interceptor, or X-cepter. It had the body of an X-wing with wings similar to those of a TIE Interceptor. Attached to each wing pylon was a pair of X-wing engines and ion cannons. The wings pulled away from the pylons on extending armatures and pairs of trusses and then folded down, putting their inside edges outward.

The _Lukrehulks_ abandoned their attempt at the Star Destroyers and joined their comrades.

With the Star Destroyers destroyed the _Vanquisher _brought her starboard weapons to bear on the enemy ships. It was important to be facing away from the shipyards should a retreat be necessary.

The Star Destroyer _Tialga_ and her escorts blazed away as they approached the enemy formation. A _Recusant_-class light destroyer lurched forward and slammed into the starboard side Mon Cal cruiser. Debris slammed into the _Tialga's_ starboard shields, which rippled angrily. Explosions erupted along the Star Destroyer's hull. The damage could have been much worse, though.

A few tri-fighters snuck through a temporary gap in the shields. They launched missiles at a damaged conduit. They didn't explode, but simply broke apart and released groups of spherical objects. Each sphere split in half, each half remaining connected via small armatures. Legs extended and trios of red-orange photoreceptors, arrayed vertically, shined.

Two _Munificent_-class frigates peeled off from the enemy fleet, intent on ramming the _Vanquisher_. Or perhaps they only intended to draw its fire. "Dang it," Asyr muttered as a droid control ship passed behind the two frigates. "Is there any way we can get at that _Lukrehulk_?" she asked her chief weapons officer.

"Yes, but then at least one of those frigates is going hit."

"So, no." The _Vanquisher_ was more valuable. She tuned her intercom to Tycho's partial squadron. "Wampa Squadron, can ya'll make it to the _Tialga_?" When dealing with other high ranking officers Asyr Bwua'tu usually managed to temper her accent some. Her backrocket world accent had the tendency of causing others to think less highly of her. But that wasn't important in the heat of battle.

"We'll try."

A significant section of the _Tialga's _starboard shield failed, allowing a C-9979 landing craft to alight on the Star Destroyer like monstrous headless, tailless dragonfly. An MTT and two ATTs floated out of the Haor Chall landing craft and onto the hull of the Star Destroyer, using caved in sections as ramps. And the landing craft lifted off.

Like a huge battering ram the MTT smashed through the damaged hull plating of its host, its smaller companions following in its wake. Air screamed out into space, obscuring the shrieks of deforming metal. And the thunderous banging of the droid vehicles as they more or less crashed onto one of the decks. The MTT fired its lasers at the bulkhead in front of it. The air on the other side of the durasteel caused the bulkhead to burst open.

Hemir accelerated after the tri-fighter. He fired his lasers, but his quarry made an incredibly sharp turn to port. Of course, lacking an organic pilot the droid fighter had no fear of passing out. The Separatist vessel flew right into the path of an oncoming X-wing, obliterating both fighters in a ball of flame. Hemir guessed that was intentional; his target must have known it was a goner anyway. He turned away from the explosion and headed in the general direction of the _Tialga_.

A tri-fighter coming directly at Allana launched a pair of missiles at her. It would be hard to destroy them at the speed she was going. But she couldn't slow down because she had a couple Vulture droids on her tail. Allana had no choice but to dive downward.

Obsidian gave off a shrill wail as a one of the missiles released its store of sphere encased buzz droids. One of the droids floated through Allana's shields and opened up. The three-eyed droid scuttled its way toward Obsidian, presenting a circular saw.

Allana heard her astromech shriek over the comm. "Obby," she said sadly.

Nelani saw Obsidian's head hit the inside of her daughter's deflector shield and explode in a shower of sparks. She activated her comm. "Button, lower part of your shield so I can shoot that thing off of you."

Before Nelani could line up for a shot her astromech buzzed. She checked her sensor readings. One of the Vulture droids that had been tailing her daughter had broken off was headed straight toward her. Nelani had no choice but to break off.

The Vulture droid suddenly detonated, and Hemir came out through the flames, firing at the remaining Vulture droid. Hemir decelerated slightly as Allana suddenly flew by in front of him. He sent a single red laser beam into the gap he suddenly felt in Allana's deflector shield. The buzz droid exploded in a shower of sparks. The lowered part of Allana's shield went back up, just in time to catch a blast from that tri-fighter. The three Jedi quickly dispatched the two droid fighters, and were joined by Tycho, Armedius, and the Twins.

With the two _Munificents_ destroyed the _Vanquisher_ was free to fire on the ring-shaped droid control ship.

Hemir felt the gap in the _Tialga's_ deflector shield growing smaller. At least one of them had to make it in. His deflector shield sparked as it scraped against the _Tialga's _shield. Hemir could feel which components were projecting that portion of the shield. But before he could focus his fire on that area he was met by seven tri-fighters. "Bugger."

"Only Hemir made it in," Tycho commed the _Vanquisher_. "But if you can crack that control ship, we can destroy it from the inside." That would hopefully deactivate the droids inside the _Tialga_. Although, another droid control ship could take over for it.

As the droid control ship sustained fire from the _Vanquisher_ Allana could vaguely feel a weak spot in the deflector shield. None of the Jedi could feel the energy flow of machinery like Hemir could; he'd begun to develop that ability after receiving his prosthetic arm. But he was busy.

Allana didn't have much time to think. She went into a dive toward the ship and fired a couple proton torps. An instant after firing she went into a dive toward the gap in the shields. After entering the droid ship she instinctively flew up, barely avoiding crashing headlong into a Trade Federation MTT. Her fighter twisted, juked, and jinked as crimson energy flashed around her.

Allana knew it wouldn't be nearly as easy it had been for Anakin Skywalker. Those enormous power plants used by the _Lukrehulks_ would have been removed to make it safe for civilians. She reached out in the Force, and sure enough, did not sense any such machinery. They could easily have had been replaced with something more efficient and less volatile. So she'd have to make it into the core ship-the detachable portion of the vessel that controlled its droid forces.

Her fighter shook as a dozen red lances converged on her shields. Allana felt lifeless points of energy coming up from behind. She groaned; one of them would crash into her before she could get into that core ship. Time to get out. Allana fired two proton torps at the bulkhead before her. The resulting blast of energy hit her forward shields, depleting a good chunk of their energy. She diverted power from her forward shields to strengthen those aft. Before she could escape, more fired rained down from above. And unfortunately, her forward shields wouldn't be able to handle it. But if she diverted any power from the rear shields to reinforce her top bow shields, she'd be blown up from behind. So Allana turned into the curve of the ship. A bad move, but it was the only one she had. There were six bogies on her tail, and more were on their way. An alarm went off as she suffered another barrage.

Allana wouldn't be able to keep this up much longer. She could aim for the _Lukrehulk's_ engines and engage her hyperdrive. That would set off her six remaining torpedoes, and even if the resulting explosion somehow didn't destroy the core ship it would still be forced to detach. That would make it an easy target for the _Vanquisher_.

A blast of blue energy hit Allana's X-wing. But although her X-wing had lost power it wasn't falling. The artificial gravity had been shut off. She was helpless right now. The droid fighters could have easily killed her. So why the heck hadn't they? Allana wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"Crikey!" Every time Hemir got a bogey in his sights one or more of them would try to ram him, and he'd have to move out of the way. It wouldn't have been such a problem if he didn't have to worry about crashing into the _Tialga's_ or her deflector shield. He dove downward, avoiding another laser barrage, pointed the X-wing's nose back up, and fired his laser cannons and a proton torp at one of the tri-fighters. The lasers weakened the shields, allowing the torpedo to slip through, and the bogey turned into a fireball. Six more, and then Hemir could easily take out the ground forces.

Two tri-fighters started toward him head on. Sure, he could easily take out one of them. And then other would smash into him. A predatory smile came to his lips as he found the solution. Using the Force he thrust one of the droids into its comrade. Hemir dove down under the resulting fireball; the explosion hammered his shields and his blast tinting nearly turned his canopy black. He looped above the explosion, coming over the top end upside down.

There were four enemy fighters left. But, they wouldn't fall for his smashing ploy again. Hemir didn't need to look at the diagnostics to know he'd lost a good portion of his shield strength. The flow of electricity had been altered. Like a stream that had been dammed up somewhere. One lucky shot or unlucky shot, depending on one's point of view, and he'd be vaped. It felt cowardly to do so, but he had to get out. He wouldn't be any good to anyone dead. He fired a pair of proton torpedoes at the inside of the deflector shield. The resulting gap closed less than a second after he was out. An unlucky tri-fighter detonated as it slammed into the shield.

"Admiral, I'm sensing a lot of frustration from Hemir, and he's left the _Tialga_," said Asyr's chief sensor officer, a female Sullustan named Zuul Zuzu. She had a small amount of Force sensitivity.

Admiral Bwua'tu shook her head. "Dang," she muttered. "All available relevant batteries target the _Tialga_."

"Admiral, more droid ships just dropped out of hyperspace behind us." Officer Zuzu's tone was nervous but she kept from panicking.

"Retreat to location Alpha," the admiral's voice said through Hemir's intercom. He reached out to Allana; she hadn't made it out of that droid control and she was terrified. They couldn't save her. And that made him furious. He wanted to blow something up.

With his X-wing so damaged there wasn't much Hemir could do. He reached out and felt the presence of a pilot who was dying. Hemir sent feelings of calm to him, and a sense of purpose. The pilot had an attitude of acceptance. The Chiss Jedi pushed his presence into the mind of his comrade. He saw the sparking console, felt the agonizing pain in the man's right temple, as though it were his own. The X-wing accelerated toward the already sparking engine of a _Munificent_-class frigate. The massive engine detonated as the X-wing's remaining torpedoes were set off. And then an explosion ripped up the side of the enemy ship.

Before Hemir could even land his X-wing on the flight deck of the _Vanquisher_, he could see the stars elongate into lines through the magcon field. This didn't bloody happen. Jedi didn't fail to rescue one another.

Jula was waiting by the door to Hemir's quarters. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about Allana."

"Thanks," Hemir muttered. He entered his quarters and the door slid shut behind him. Hemir looked at Allana's bed. She wasn't there.

Hemir walked over to the desk beside her bed and picked up her personal comlink. He activated it and found its music application. He scrolled down the list of her music. Aortic Pump. She did like some classical rock. Coalescence. He'd heard some of their songs; they were quite good. Hothstead. He went back to Coalescence.

He turned it up just loud enough for him to hear it. There was a classical sound to it, and also a hard-rock edge to it. Hemir didn't really consider himself a fan of emo-music, but this was brilliant. The lead singer was torquiose-skinned Twi'lek woman, whose named currently escaped him at the moment.

Tycho Skywalker was sitting on a couch in the officers' lounge. He had his arms around Nelani, who was asleep with her head against his chest. Hemir sat down beside them, holding a clear mug of amber colored liquid. Near the rim was a small pouch, suspended from a string wrapped around the handle. He took a swig, and savored the way it burned going down.

"You love her," Tycho said suddenly.

"She's my best friend," Hemir responded.

The older man gave him a look suggesting he wasn't being completely with himself. "It's more than that."

If Allana was gone, then what was the bloody point of Hemir admitting his feelings for her? It would only make him miserable. But he knew what Tycho wanted to hear and it was the truth. "I guess you're right."

Chapter 4

_Tialga_

Nevin heard rapid footfalls. A young Falleen officer screamed as she bumped into him. "It's after me," she said. She pushed him out of the way and started running down the corridor. Trusting that Officer Su Feta knew what she was talking about, Nevin ran after her.

After running down a few more corridors the Falleen stopped to catch her breath. "What exactly is after you?" Nevin asked.

"An astromech."

"An astromech droid?"

Su Feta nodded. "It's evil. There was black smoke around it, but it didn't have a smell."

Had she gone mad? Nevin looked back the way they'd come. "Well, at least astromechs aren't very fast." When he looked back at her she was smiling like some sort of nutter.

The _Tialga _had been in hyperspace for a few days now. Zhmal sat on the floor with his back to the wall along some of his fellow officers. A rank of tan battle stood before them with weapons drawn, prepared to shoot anyone daft enough to try something.

He knew that the Collicoids, an insectoid race-which happened to be carnivorous-had invented some of the droids used in the Clone Wars. But if they going to be used as food, why did the droids only allow them to have water? Wouldn't they make better meals if they were well fed? Maybe it would be good to start something; he'd rather… the weapons could have been set on stun.

Nevin emerged from around the corner, escorted by a pair of battle droids. He looked very pale. "There's a monster on the ship. It got Su Feta."

Galactic Empire

Jonash Horn and the rest of the half squadron he led had been summoned to one of the Galactic Empire's shipyards in anticipation of an attack such as the one at Bilbringi. Other than the fleet currently stationed there the nearest fleet was almost a day away.

And to make matters worse, a few hours ago he'd received word that Allana Skywalker had been captured during the ensuing battle. He was not only a descendent of Valin Horn, but also of Jaina Solo Fel-the granddaughter of Anakin Skywalker. This made Jonash and Allana distant cousins.

There were thirty-one Star Destroyers currently under construction. Only twelve of which had a functioning hyperdrive. There were enough beings to crew, if sparsely, five of the twelve. The other seven had already entered hyperspace, the six trailing vessels slaved to the lead vessel which had only a piloting crew. They would be entering realspace in Galactic Federation territory.

Eight of the remaining nineteen Star Destroyers had functional engines and were arrayed around the droid fleet's most likely entrance vector. The rest all had working weapons and would behave as Golan Battle Stations, basically a weapons platform with a hyperdrive. These nineteen ships were being controlled via remote.

The unmanned Star  
Destroyers' weapons lit space up as the enemy fleet reverted from hyperspace, right where predicted. And like slow, gargantuan torpedoes eight wedge-shaped vessels surged forward, slamming into droid ships and creating massive fireballs.

The manned capital ships, Star Destroyers and support vessels alike, added their fire to the eleven stationary Star Destroyers. But that didn't stop all the enemy fighters from getting through.

Jonash Horn's astromech Chirpy gave a low tweedle. He looked at his sensor display and frowned; there was a cloud of blips labeled 'UNIDNENTIFIED'. "Thanks. Let me know when we have visual." Chirpy gave an affirmative beep. When he reached out to the cloud in Force he felt no living presences.

A few seconds later Jonash heard a low tweedle. The unidentified ship resembled a TIE-Advanced that someone had forgotten to cover in armor plating. In the middle was an orange sphere-a droid brain. Attached to the wing pylons were long, black ion cannons. Incorporated into each of the four slanted wings was a large laser cannon, and on the end was a nasty looking silvery blade; at the corresponding rear ends were silvery hooks. He had a very bad feeling about this.

Fighters began dancing through space, exchanging fire, as dogfights began. One of the mysterious fighters-Jonash decided to call them Shadow TIE's-extended its wings so that they were straight and not slanted. The ends of the wings also unfolded, rotating the silvery weaponry. The droid fighter flew right toward a TIE Defender. The pilot side slipped, but one of Shadow TIE's blades bent and passed right through the deflector shield and sheared through the upper right side of the ball cockpit. The droid fighter sped away, unharmed. It seemed to Jonash as though the Shadow TIE had predicted where the TIE Defender would be. Advanced tactical computers could run complex simulations to allow a fighter to do that.

Jonash reached out to his apprentice Koda. The two advanced toward the nearest Shadow TIE. The droid fighter began spinning as it approached, a spray of red laser fire lighting up the space in front of it. Before it could rip into both Jedis' X-wings the two Jedi spread out. In the instant that the droid fighter was between them, Jonash and Koda fired their lasers-four lasers beams converged into one on either side of the TIE-and four proton torpedoes. Unable to withstand such crossfire, the enemy craft detonated.

Another Shadow TIE detonated as another pair of Jedi executed a similar maneuver. One engine was all that remained. And then, suddenly that engine flared and slammed right into one of the X-wings. Jonash felt a stab of sorrow within his chest. From Koda came a flood of anger, but he quickly forced it down. Anger could cause one to act brashly, which often got people killed.

A group of tri-fighters, led by four Shadow TIEs raced forward. They seemed to be headed right for the Jedi. No, the X-wings. The droids had determined that the X-wings had better pilots, were more of a threat.

Both sides were taking a heavy beating. An enormous droid control ship had managed to get past the ranks of unmanned Star Destroyer. It continued forward, even as explosions erupted along its hull, heading toward one of the crewed Star Destroyers. A trio of C-9979 landing ships exited the _Lukrehulk_. Two of them were destroyed, but the other managed to crash into the Star Destroyer's nose. The landing craft's four wings fell off and crashed onto the host's hull-the tensor field that kept them attached had been deactivated. MTTs and ATTs, though seriously damaged crawled out of the Haor Chall lander and more or less fell through tears in the Star Destroyer's hull. A squadron of TIE Defenders swooped in, launching torps at the parasites. The ally ship's nose was ripped apart under the barrage, but the invaders were no more.

Two of the TIE Defenders exploded as they were rammed by Vulture droids. The ten remaining squadron members took evasive maneuvers to evade the suicidal droids. Taking advantage of the situation a Shadow TIE and two tri-fighters entered a gap in the Star Destroyer's shields. The TIE went ahead, using its silvery weapons to shred through damaged hull plating, while the tri-fighter, following behind unleashed a cache of buzz droids.

Jonash felt two more of his students die as they were outmaneuvered by the Shadow TIEs. He extended his Force awareness and felt people dying all around him. Nearby, a disintegrating Corellian Corvette slammed into a _Recusant_-class light destroyer. And that Star Destroyer that had been attacked by that landing craft detonated as a Shadow TIE blasted out. That droid fighter, though, was caught in the explosion.

The droids' ability to anticipate the Imperial fleet's actions seemed beyond what any tactical computer could accomplish. And the effectiveness of their tactics frightened Jonash. And then the order to retreat came.

_Vanquisher_

"Admiral," Zuul Zuzu said. "Seven Star Destroyers just exited hyperspace. They're Imperial."

"I told you they were behind this," the Devaronian Intelligence Director said.

"Shut up," Admiral Bwua'tu said. The monkey lizard wasn't helping right now.

"They're hailing us," the Sullustan officer said. "I'll put them on."

A hologram of a young man in an ensign's uniform appeared before the admiral's chair. "I'm Ensign Vargas. The Bastion shipyards are under attack. There weren't enough people to crew these seven ships, so we got them out of there."

Location-Unknown

She awoke to find that she couldn't move. She was lying down, strapped to a cold, metal slab. The room she was in was pitched black. Tubes went into her body; she could feel one down her throat. She tried to move, but couldn't. She tried to scream, but couldn't. Nor was she able to reach out in the Force. She'd never been more terrified.

Chapter 5

Like the other Jedi stationed on the _Vanquisher_ Hemir had been given a class to teach. The goal was for his pupils to navigate by using the Force. They wore blindfolds. The recording of a waterfall prevented them from using their hearing and would help get them into a relaxed frame of mind.

The Chiss Jedi shook his head as his students bumped into one another and tripped over the many objects that had been scattered about on the floor. A young man, holding his blindfold in one hand approached him. His nose was bleeding and looked crooked. He walked over to one of the medics on standby. He sat in a chair and the medic wiped the blood from his face.

"Ow!" the man yelped as the medic snapped his nose back into place.

"Did you clear your mind?" Hemir asked.

"Yeah," he said in an uncharacteristically nasal voice. "I was rushing."

"Learning mustn't be rushed. Are you willing to give it another go?"

"Sure. The cute medic can take care of me after I get hurt again." The medic rolled her eyes.

Hemir brought his attention back to his pupils. Jula Darklighter was standing still, and moments later a woman fell flat on her face in front of him. Jula deftly stepped over the woman as she was getting back up and then walked around a crate. A few of the other students were having similar success. They'd be put into a more advanced course.

As for the others… Hemir didn't relish the thought of flunking any of them, but even worse was passing unqualified individuals and having them get killed because of their lack of skill in the Force.

Kuat Drive Yards

After the rest of the Imperial fleet had joined the Galactic Federation fleet at what remained of the Bilbringi Shipyards the combined flotilla he made its way to the Kuat Drive Yards. According to Intelligence a large enemy flotilla had entered the Hydian Way. Part of that fleet had attacked Bilbringi while another part had attacked Bastion. Analysis of hyperspace routes and exit vectors and educated assumptions on the enemy's goals and tactics by Intelligence had indicated that a third task force, from that same flotilla, was headed toward the Kuat Drive Yards.

Crews had been stretched so that more vessels could be used. But still, there was an excess. Those extra vessels with functional hyperdrives had already been evacuated to Coruscant. If the droids were allowed to capture Kuat Drives Yards then the remaining ships would be lost. And that was not acceptable.

Director Jed Haasef had finally conceded that there, indeed had to be a powerful Force user behind this. And that the Galactic Empire obviously wasn't behind this.

Koda had his comlink open and was looking at a picture of a Jessar girl about his age. Hemir put a comforting hand on the kid's shoulder. "I wanted to ask her out," Koda said without looking up from his comlink.

"I know what it's like," Hemir said. "This is actually Allana's bed I'm sitting on; it smells like her." Koda didn't seem to think that was weird. Hemir grabbed his flight suit and headed toward the 'fresher. He pointed at Koda's flightsuit. "Have that on when I get out, kid."

"I'm two years older than you, you know."

"True," Hemir said as the 'fresher door closed behind him. "But I'm more mature than you."

"Hey," Koda said through the wall. "That's not fair."

"What? That Chiss have a shorter lifespan and thus must grow up faster."

The fleet consisted of Trade Federation and Separatist ships. The enormous _Lukrehulks_ had taken point, with the smaller Separatist vessels behind. Perhaps the droid control ships' deflector shields had been enhanced. This would provide the smaller ships with very effective cover. The enormous openings in those ships would allow quite sizable shield generators to be placed inside.

The Galactic Federation/Imperial fleet opened up with long range batteries. The droid vessels' deflector shields rippled, but they did not yet return fire immediately. Both fleets continued toward each other and soon that shrinking gap was filled with a maelstrom of fire.

The droid control ships had gradual managed to turn, orienting themselves like coins standing on end, presenting maximum shield space. Some of the Separatist vessels and swarms of droid fighters went above and below the Trade Federation formation. Some of the ships in Asyr's fleet would have to rotate on their long axis in order to bring their flank weapons to bear. The _Lukrehulks_ began to assume their original positions.

Hemir felt a sense of fear radiating from Koda, his new wingmate. He understood the kid's concern. It was quite possible, quite likely that more Jedi would die. Hemir sent his friend a spot of reassurance. Reassurance of what, he had no idea.

Hemir felt a familiar presence reaching out to him. And then it was gone. Had he gone mad? And then it was back, conveying a powerful sense of fear. A sense of recognition and concern from Koda confirmed it. Allana was alive.

Hemir reached back to her; Allana was dying. His gaze slid toward a _Lukrehulk_. The core ship. It seemed to be draining her energy. He commed the _Vanquisher_. "Wampa Five here."

"Go ahead," a voice responded.

"Can you get the admiral on?"

"Just a sec."

"What is it?" Asyr Bwua'tu's voice asked.

He quickly described what he'd sensed. "It would be helpful to know how they're doing this. And she has high strategic value."

"Could it be a trap?"

"I'm not sure. But if Allana knew or even suspected that it was she'd be warning us away."

"And if she doesn't know or suspect that it is and it is."

"If there's some sort of bomb I should be able to sense it."

"Okay. I trust your judgment. And we'll do what we can."

"That's all I can ask." The logical part of Hemir's brain told him that she'd be dead before she could be rescued. But if he didn't at least try to save her…

By now all the Jedi-not necessarily including the Made Jedi, those that had been given Midichlore-knew that Allana was trapped inside one of the Trade Fed ships. That particular ship began firing on a nearby Star Destroyer. The weapons seemed to be firing with more power than they should have. Jonash could feel Allana growing weaker as the droid control ship continued firing.

Tension radiated from his wingmate, Cara. A pair of Shadow TIEs came right at them, forcing them to separate. Both enemy fighters completely ignored Jonash. As he turned to tail the droids Cara's X-wing detonated. "No!" It seemed as though those rotters were intentionally killing everyone he loved. Both droid fighters turned toward Jonash, red photoreceptors glaring hatefully at him.

One of the Shadow TIEs detonated and two X-wings and an X-cepter looped around to make a run at its partner. Jonash sideslipped out of the way as the droid fighter attempted to ram him. Armedius and the Twins dispatched the bogie and made sure the remaining engines were destroyed. The Yuuzhan Vong Jedi zipped away in search of more enemy fighters, while the Bothan took over as Jonash's wingmate.

Most sane individuals would've have turned at least some of their ships to defend against the Separatist vessels by now, but that's what the droids would've wanted-if they could 'want'. Asyr Bwua'tu wouldn't dare do what they wanted. "Maintain fire on the _Lukre's_," she ordered. The young admiral had proven many times that her seemingly insane plans had perfect logic behind them.

The _Vanquisher _began focusing her fire on the droid control ship Hemir had mentioned. Asyr Bwua'tu figured it was the enemy's most valuable ship and that other droid ships would come to defend it. She turned to officer Zuzu. "Can you sense where in that droid control ship Allana is?"

The small Sulustan's ears twitched. "Somewhere in the core ship."

"Now," the admiral ordered into the comm. The smaller Star Destroyer the droid vessel was targeting suddenly lurched forward. "Bow shields up," the admiral ordered. Nearby vessels temporarily raised shields as needed and many of the vessels turned on their long axis and began firing on the Separatist ships.

There was an enormous explosion as the unmanned Star Destroyer detonated. Great gouts of fire crashed against the enemies' deflector shields. The rear of one caught fire, then the whole vessel exploded. Fissures opened up along the right side of the vessel Allana was in; it turned to expose its left side. An explosion erupted from the engine compartment and the ship's weapons shut down. All firing upon that vessel ceased.

Nelani tried to pull her fighter up to avoid the swarm of buzz droids in front of her. Through Force enhanced senses she felt the vibrations of the little buggers landing on her fighter. Reluctantly, she lowered her shields. Tycho began blasting them off her ship and she used the Force to throw some of them off. An alarm screamed at her as a hit to her X-wing's upper right s-foil spun the fighter around. The centripetal force ripped of the s-foil and it skidded off of Tycho's deflector shield, throwing up a shower of sparks.

Tycho felt the Force meld with his wife snap. He was afraid that he'd never see his daughter Allana again. He couldn't bear to lose Nelani, too... He would not let that happen. He grabbed his wife's X-Wing in the Force and pushed opposite in the direction of the spin. It wouldn't be enough, though. If Nelani could manage to fire her port engines... Hemir had been able to take control of another pilot's body to fly that man's X-wing into the engine of a droid ship, causing considerable damage.

Though the Force meld had been terminated, Tycho's Force bond with Nelani made entering her mind easier. He reactivated her deflector shield. Then tapped her left foot on its rudder; after a few moments his wife's X-wing stopped spinning.

Flaming debris from a Vulture droid collided with Nelani's shield and Tycho felt it starting to get warmer inside her X-wing. That X-wing wasn't going to last much longer.

The Twins came blasting after a small group droid fighters, taking them out before they could get Nelani. Confident that they had his back he edged toward her fighter.

Nelani's canopy opened, and she floated out into space. Tycho created a Force bubble to keep the air in and opened his canopy. He took hold of her in Force and brought her to him. When it closed there was barely enough room for the two of them. Tycho had never been so grateful for his wife's diminutive size.

Her heart suddenly stopped beating. If they didn't get to a medbay soon... He moved his right arm so that the palm of his hand was over her heart. Sparks of green energy flowed from his hand and Nelani's body jerked-as much as it could in the cramped confines. No heart beat. He did it again. Still, no heart beat. He wouldn't stop until her start heart restarted or her Force presence faded away. Nelani suddenly gasped. And Tycho could hear her heart beating again.

"Artoo, get to cap ship." Tycho heard a confirming tweedle.

The Twins stayed by his side until he made it into a nearby Mon Calamari cruiser.

The Separatist vessels that had moved into dorsal and ventral flanking positions had gradually been turning in the direction of the Hydain Way as had many of the remaining droid ships. The enemy vessels seemed to stretch as they entered hyperspace. This suggested that they had known they'd have to retreat. Or perhaps they'd just been prepared for that eventuality.

Hemir reached out to Allana; she was weakening more slowly now. Perhaps he'd be able to hold her dead body before she vanished into the Force. And to learn what had been done to her.

Hemir watched the spherical core ship detach itself from the rest of the control ship. A quartet of Star Destroyers fired around it, corralling it toward a small moon with a thin atmosphere. The heavily damaged sphere performed a somewhat controlled crash and, fortunately, there didn't seem to be any catastrophic explosions.

Four other Jedi joined Hemir and Koda as they raced toward the core ship. Hemir spotted a troop carrier approaching the small moon where the core ship sat. He reached out toward it and felt the familiar energy signatures of twenty four combat droids. They were a modern version of the YVH, or Yuuzhan Vong Hunter, Droids. The Yuuzhan Vong War had ended over two hundred years ago, so the Yuuzhan Vong were no longer enemies, as far as most were concerned.

Hemir extended his Force awareness to the control sphere; he didn't feel any sort of energy flow suggesting any sort of bomb or possible chain reaction that would destroy the whole thing. He started firing at a viable spot, and Koda helped him to make short work of it.

Clad in vac-suits, the six Jedi jumped out of their fighters and, because of the low gravity, gently fell toward the core ship along with the combat droids.

Hemir felt a surge of energy building up and something started humming, almost imperceptibly. He sent out a jolt of urgency and the Jedi used the Force to drag themselves and the combat droids along faster.

The energy output increased sharply and sheet of energy started to form. The two rearmost combat droids were cut in two as the deflector shield sliced through them.

"Well, this is ironic," Koda commented.

Hemir nodded. Deflector shields were supposed to keep things out, not keep them in. They were trapped.

"There is a jamming field," Armedius commented as he powered up that large heavy blaster he always carried around. "My comm had static." No one was surprised.

Now that the Jedi were no longer zipping at thousands of miles per hour in their X-wings it was easier to maintain a Force meld. Force melds allowed Jedi to sense each other's feelings, which helped them fight as one. Even so, the other Jedi had to rely upon Hemir to reach out in Force so that the droids could be sensed more easily.

"Allana's down there," Hemir said, pointing. He scanned the vicinity for droid presences. He felt the energy moving through the droids, similar to how blood flowed through vessels. "They're coming."

Most of the Jedi reached for their blasters and activated their lightsabers. Tsetti and Enzetti, however used lightwhips. The Twins were especially uncomfortable. This whole situation with the droids must have reminded them of the stories of the war against the droids in their ancestors' home galaxy tens of thousands of years ago.

The Twins put up a shield of Force energy just as a hail of red laser blasts came screaming-though not as loudly as usual, due to the thin atmosphere- toward the Jedi. The Force shield sparked as the crimson needles struck. A small gap appeared to allow passage of three ion grenades launched by combat droids. Koda and Jonash used the Force to help the weapons reach their target. The men of the Horn line had been known for having almost non-existent telekinetic abilities. But, fortunately he was also a descendant of Jaina Solo Fel, so Jonash did possess such abilities. There was a tremendous blue flash as the grenades detonated. The Force shield, now gapless shimmered as it blocked the energy.

The Twins brought the shield down and the Jedi and combat droids returned fire. The Yuuzhan Vong twins unleashed green arcs of Force lightning. Though many Jedi did frown upon its use, Force lightning wasn't necessarily of the dark side. That depended upon one's motivation for using it.

Panels began shifting around on the forearm of Hemir's prosthetic left arm. His hand disassembled itself and was rearranged into a blaster muzzle. Air was sucked in through an intake near the elbow and went into a chamber where it was superheated to plasma. A silver orb of plasma shot forth and a large wheel-like object tumbled to the ground, smoking. A destroyer droid. He felt another droid behind him; a second golden shaft of energy extended from the back of his lightsaber, impaling the head of a battle droid. It was usually more practical to activate only one side of the saberstaff, since the extra blade had a tendency of making the weapon a bit cumbersome.

Hemir's left forearm began to reassemble itself into a stump, he spun to the left, and a long silver blade extended to impale a super battle droid. He continued in the spin and used the droid to block incoming fire. And then he Force flung the droid into some of its fellows.

Though not exceptional fighters, especially by Jedi standards, the sheer numbers and strategy with which they were used made the battle droids quite dangerous.

Tsetti saw a combat droid tumble to the ground and cracked her lightwhip at something scuttling away. Mechanical legs and other small droid parts went flying. She Force flung the downed combat droid toward a mass of droid presences the meld with Hemir allowed her to sense, and with a squeezing gesture set off it s cache of ion grenades.

Armedius briefly wished for an oxygen tank, until he felt something hot graze his back. He fired a blast of energy from his blaster. It past by one battle droid's head, destroying the circuitry therein, and then turned the head of another droid to slag. It continued to walk about as though nothing had happened.

Allana's presence was suddenly gone. They'd finally killed her. Hemir could feel the anger building up inside him. He reached his left hand toward an approaching destroyer droid. The droid's serpent-like head twisted, until it came off, as he made a wrenching motion with his hand. Hemir's attention then went to a super battle droid, which he also ripped apart with is mind. If these had been living beings filled with blood and not circuitry he'd have been concerned about the dark side. But these bloody things were just metal.

And then Allana's presence was back. Hemir had not actually felt her die. Perhaps something was trying to block her presence. He felt new resolve flow into him. Hemir would draw from his love for Allana and not hatred of the droids.

There was a sudden surge of energy. "Oh, bugger," Hemir muttered. Jonash looked at him and his eyes widened as the Jedi Master sensed what he sensed. But he also seemed unnaturally calm. Hemir needed to learn how to do that.

Jonash gave Zuul Zuzu a nudge through the Force and sent a surge of urgency. Moments later the core ship began shaking. A mass of droid presences was suddenly gone and the deflector shield started to weaken. And Allana's life force began to weaken even more slowly. The components that generated the deflector shield had been damaged and draining more energy from Allana wouldn't change that.

A combat droid blasted a hole in the floor and some ion grenades floated down. Blue lightning flashed and sparks erupted from the enemy droids as they were disabled. The Jedi and the twenty remaining combat droids went in and thumped gently to the lower floor.

There were multiple surges of energy as droids were activated. Hemir recognized the energy flow of destroyer droids. The droids were arranged in a circle around them. With this being the case the Twins would have to generate an entire dome of protective energy as oppose to just a shield. But it would not have adequate strength per square inch to be effective.

The Twins' lightwhips moved like giant flagella as they deflected and sometimes sent back enemy fire. Armedius' blue lightsaber blade suddenly elongated, and turned light blue, to go through the head of a destroyer droid. Hemir twirled his saberstaff, deflecting enemy fire and creating a shield of golden energy before him.

The combat droids, however, were not faring so well. Five had fallen so far. But, fortunately it was a simple matter for the Jedi to Force fling them toward the enemy and set off the ion grenades. The Jedi started to break out of the circle as they cut down the destroyer droids. Hemir could sense Allana's presence on the other side of the wall to his right. Jonash reached toward the wall with his hand and made a rending motion. Metal groaned and shrieked as it was twisted and ripped open.

To Hemir's surprise there was another life presence inside the room. It was even fainter than Allana's presence, yet it was not fading away but was static. And the presence seemed to lack a certain vibrancy that even Allana still possessed. Hemir could feel an energy flow characteristic of a machine around this life Force.

As it began to scuttle its way toward Allana, Hemir blasted it apart with a silver plasma blast. The light generated by the blast illuminated a corner of the room, allowing the Chiss Jedi to see a brief, vague outline of Allana's body. There were tubes and wires connected to her, some of them to drain her of Force energy, no doubt.

Jonash guarded the improvised doorway as Hemir made his way to Allana. Her face was so pale that she looked dead. He looked at the tubes; he had to get them out. But no; he didn't know how they were attached. He could end up pulling her intestines out. Hemir activated his lightsaber. In a sweeping arc he cut the tubes, and wasn't at all surprised by the fluid that sprayed out of some of them.

"We're gonna get you out of here, baby." Hemir said as he picked her up; she was cold. She began fading away faster. Allana had stopped breathing. And her heart was barely beating.

Hemir had not come all this way for her to bloody die on him. He imagined his lungs inhaling and exhaling and his heart pumping. He mentally overlaid those images onto images of her lungs and heart. Hemir brought to mind the experience of drinking hot tea, and how it warmed his body. He began to radiate heat and Force energy into Allana's body. He suddenly felt very heavy because he was now keeping two people alive.

Jonash momentarily stepped into the room and moments later emerged from the room, blocking enemy fire with his and Hemir's lightsabers. Behind him was Hemir, carrying Allana in the Jedi Master's robe. The three joined up with the other Jedi. The Twins brought up the rear, blocking fire with another energy shield. They were tiring and some of the Jedi had to block the occasional shot that made it through.

After a few minutes of running-Hemir had somehow managed the strength to do so-the group finally came to a wall. Armedius and the remaining combat droid blasted a hole through it. The troop transport sidled up to the opening and extended its boarding ramp.

With Jonash's help, Hemir stumbled into the nearest seat. Sweat was dripping down his face and his breathing was labored. And he was getting dizzy. Despite his exhaustion Hemir bent down slightly and kissed Allana's forehead. He could scarcely believe they'd managed to save her. And somehow, though it wasn't that important, Allana still had that pink ribbon in her hair.

Back on the asteroid the unshielded core ship detonated under a brief bombardment from the _Vanquisher_.

Chapter 6

_Vanquisher_

"They need to remain in physical contact," Jonash told the medic as he and Armedius helped Hemir and Allana onto a stretcher. He explained the rest of the situation as they headed toward the medbay. Once there the medic used medical tape to tape Hemir and Allana's hands together. After they'd been stabilized Jonash and Armedius joined Koda and the Twins in the pilots' lounge. Admiral Bwua'tu and Director Haasef was in there with them.

"Tycho's with Nelani," one of the Yuuzhan Vong twins said; Jonash couldn't tell which one. "She's fine."

"We are expecting another attack on Kuat," Director Haasef said. "Perhaps, by the same fleet that attacked Bastion. The fleet we just fought off reentered the Hydian Way toward Bastion, and has likely joined the incoming fleet. Another fleet appears to be coming at us from the other side of the Hydian Way. This will leave our fleet pinned. And there's a possibility that one or both of these fleets will be reinforced with part of the fleet that attacked Bilibringi. There's been no word on that fleet's activities."

"We are going to turn this into a trap," Admiral Bwua'tu said. "General Zdraekus has a fleet on standby to come behind the Bastion fleet. This should also buy time for the remaining vessels still under construction to evacuate to Coruscant."

Jonash then told about the other being in the room with Allana. "It sounds like entechment," the Devaroniun mused.

Enzetti and Tsetti looked at each other and nodded. "Silentium," said the first.

Jed Hasef frowned at them.

"It's the name of a droid race that lives in the Tingle Arm," said Tsetti. "Millennia ago in our home galaxy there was a war between them and another droid race called the Abominor. The people of our galaxy rose up against them because their war was very destructive."

"And they came here," the Director said.

The Twins nodded. "According to legend the world of the Silentium was exposed to high amounts of radiation. If the organic inhabitants were not killed instantly and they had the machinery to do so then there would have been time for entechment or something similar."

"Perhaps the Ssi-Ruuk learned it from them," suggested Jed Haasef.

"I've heard of the Silentium," Jonash said. "But what reason would they have to attack us. The last I heard they wanted nothing to do with the rest of the galaxy."

"Someone has put them up to it," Armedius said. He looked at the twins. "The same thing we felt at Zonama Sekot, most likely."

"Someone would have to be awfully powerful to pull that off," Jonash commented.

"Perhaps this is the work of more than one?" Armedius suggested.

Two days later Hemir sat beside Allana, on her medbay bed, typing up a report. The Force link he'd established between himself and Allana had quickly developed into a Force bond. Allana felt strangely connected to him; she could feel his presence without having to reach out in the Force.

Allana pulled her hand out from under her shirt and put another bacta patch into the small rubbish receptacle.

"Do you remember?" Hemir asked.

She turned toward him. "When they inserted the tubes? No. I wasn't conscious when they hooked me up. The first thing I remember was waking up in that room where you found me."

Hemir looked relieved. "Well, that's good." That was a traumatic experience no one needed. "How many senators does it take to change a glowpanel?"

Allana didn't answer.

"One. Anymore and the job won't get done."

Allana shook her head and smiled. She had a new appreciation for Hemir's jokes, as corny as they may be.

"I was talking with your father shortly after you were... taken. He helped me realize the extent of my feelings for you."

Allana's lovely mismatched eyes seemed to glow. "I knew I loved you when you carried me out of that core ship."

Hemir reached into his pocket. His hand came out holding a ring. The band was a deep, coppery orange color. It had a red diamond, with a small green diamond on either side. "I want to make Jedi babies with you."

"You'll make a brilliant son in law," Tycho said a few hours later, hugging Hemir.

"Speaking of that," Hemir looked at Allana, "we'd prefer to do that sooner as oppose to later."

Tycho nodded. "That would be wise. It would be good for morale. And with all this craziness going on it might be awhile before we have another chance."

Within a half hour the Jedi were gathered for somewhat rushed wedding. Tycho had insisted that Allana and Hemir get married in their flight suits, should they have to get to their fighters in a pinch.

"Good thinking on the flight suits, Tycho," Hemir yelled over the alarms that started wailing a few minutes later.

The _Vanquisher _and her fleet commenced fire on the Bastion fleet just after the droid ships exited hyperspace. As both fleets exchanged fire the enemy fleet was pushed back. Asyr Bwua'tu frowned. "Something's not right here," she commented. She commed the fighter pilots. "Do not engage enemy capital ships. Stay on the defensive for now."

Director Haasef looked at her. "Admiral, it seems to me that if we continue to push forward we can wipe that entire fleet out."

"That would be too obvious. And obvious hasn't been working for us lately. No, they're trying to lure us in. To put us in a vulnerable position." She suddenly whipped around to the comm and slapped it on. "General Zdraekus, I need your fleet to drop out of hyperspace behind the Bastion fleet." The original plan had been for the Verpine general's fleet to pass by the Bastion fleet and exit hyperspace behind the second droid fleet after its arrival. But if whoever was controlling the fleet could see the future to some degree, then perhaps impulsiveness would be harder to foresee.

Allana was glad to have Koda flying with her and Hemir; she had yet to fully recover from her captivity. The three of them chased after a trio of Shadow TIEs that were assailing the _Vanquisher_. The enemy fighters maneuvered as though piloted by Force users. And at any moment one of them could decide to turn around and try to ram one of the Jedi.

One of the Shadow TIE's exploded as the _Vanquisher_ scored a lucky hit. Hemir and Allana focused their fire on the rightmost Shadow TIE while Koda chased after the other. Hemir and Allana employed a tactic similar to the one Jonash and Koda had used. The bogey was destroyed in short order.

Koda's target detonated moments later, and Hemir felt Jula speeding away to rejoin his wingmate; the Chiss Jedi was very impressed with his student's progress. After making sure the droid fighters' engines were destroyed the three rejoined and headed toward a nearby squadron of Vulture droids and tri-fighters.

Flashes of light resolved themselves into Galactic Federation vessels as Zdraekus's fleet dropped out of hyperspace. Droid ship deflector shields rippled furiously as the droid fleet was attacked from the rear. Instead of turning about to face their attackers-that would have taken too long, and thus been ineffective-the droid ships made a run toward Admiral Bwua'tu's fleet. General Zdraekus and his fleet followed closely behind the enemy ships, blasting them to pieces.

The second droid fleet reverted to realspace from the other side of the Hydian Way, just as expected. Tycho Skywalker's eyes widened in horror. There was a horrible sense of agony radiating from the fleet. He hadn't even needed to reach out into the Force to feel it. These suffering presences were familiar. Allana? It made no sense.

And there was something else. It was the same thing he'd felt on Zonama Sekot, but much more powerful. It was the most evil thing he'd ever felt. Tycho reached out into the Force and located this monster onboard the fleet's sole modern day Star Destroyer.

"What the bloody heck is that?" Hemir commed.

"No," Tycho breathed. "It can't be."

"Can't be what?" Hemir asked, more sharply than he'd intended.

44ABY

Coruscant

From within one of many information clouds she watched the overgrown lizard behead her avatar and then toss the severed head. A couple days later the Jedi left Coruscant and an orange and off-white astromech plugged itself into an interface to run a diagnostics scan. Seven days after that the little droid boarded a YV-666 freighter and plugged into another interface.

"These ain't the right coordinates, you gundark," Zeb scolded his copilot. "We're s'posed to be goin' to the Hydian Way."

"I put in the right coordinates," responded a groggy Lig.

Zeb punched in the correct coordinates. "Then why the heck did I just have to change…" He frowned as the coordinates changed back. "Those blasted Jawas. Some stupid vac-brain must have hired them… The computer's on the fritz right now."

"I told you I entered the right digits. I'll see if I can get somebody..." Lig frowned as he heard a whistling sound. "Is that a hull breach?"

"Then the alarm'd be goin' off," Zeb responded.

"Not if the 'computer's on the fritz'."

Zeb glared at him as he called for assistance.

"Doesn't work," Lig complained, frowning at the intercom.

Zeb screamed as his terminal exploded in a shower of sparks. The fire suppression system failed to come on. Lig jumped up and ran out of the cockpit. Then, everything went dark and he started floating.

Over the course of a few hours all the air was vented out into space, and the remaining sixty seven passengers suffocated to death.

256 ABY

Kuat

"Abeloth," Admiral Bwua'tu repeated.

"Yes," Tycho responded. "Worse than a Sith. And I believe every single ship in that second droid fleet is enhanced like the one that had captured Allana. I think they might have cloned her."

"Her?"

"Allana."

"In just a few days?" Asyr asked, incredulous.

"It feels like her."

Led by the captured _Tialga_, the Force enhanced droid fleet unleashed an enhanced salvo of angry red light. Galactic Federation and Imperial deflector shields rippled, and Admiral Bwua'tu's fleet returned fire. A small portion of Zdraekus's fleet stayed behind to deal with the Bastion fleet, while the rest of the vessels went above or below Admiral Bwua'tu's fleet.

Deflector shields of the second droid fleet rippled under the fire from Admiral Bwua'tu's forces. The enemy shields held up like those of modern day starships. Tycho could feel his daughter's clones weakening as the droid ships drained their life energies. And the agony the clones felt served to strengthen Abeloth.

Abeloth's fleet moved onward, pushing the Galactic Federation/Imperial forces back. "Dang it!" Asyr muttered.

"The shipyards should be completely evacuated within three minutes," Director Haasef said. "And then we can retreat."

Most of Admiral Bwua'tu's vessels had already been facing the Hydian Way, presenting their right flank batteries to the Bastion droid fleet. Zdraekus's fleet had managed to similarly orient itself as it pounded the Bastion droid fleet.

_Vanquisher_-en route to Coruscant

Hemir vaulted out the side of his cockpit before one of the support crew had time to push a ladder over to it. Allana used one of the ladders to exit her X-wing; she was exhausted.

Hemir helped her down to the deck and kissed her. Allana trembled a bit in his arms. What she had felt in the Force had frightened her. The same could be said for everyone else who'd been able to feel it. Including Zuul Zuzu.

After a few moments Allana pulled away slightly."You smell absolutely wretched, Hemir," she told him, wrinkling her nose.

"So do you, baby," Hemir said.

She playfully punched him in the chest. "You're not supposed to say that to wife."

Though her tone was sharp, almost angry, Hemir didn't need the Force to know that it was all in good humor. "But not nearly as bad."

Tycho and Nelani walked over to them. "We've called an emergency meeting concerning Abeloth," Tycho said.

"No time for time for a sanisteam, I take it," Hemir said.

Nelani shook her head.

"If I allow myself to relax that much I'll fall asleep," Allana said. "And then I'd likely end up slapping you when you had to wake me up."

"Thank you, Nelani," Hemir said. "You saved me from an upset wife."

"Shut up," Allana grumbled.

"It was very wise to redirect my fleet," General Zdraekus was telling Admiral Bwua'tu. "Given the second droid fleet's enhanced weaponry such close proximity could have resulted in my fleet's destruction."

"I believed the Bastion fleet was attempting to lead my fleet into a trap," Asyr Bwua'tu said. "It did work out alright, though."

"Yes, that is the important thing."

"We are headed to Coruscant," Director Haasef said after the Jedi had entered, and seated themselves. "We received intel concerning a battle somewhere between Bilbringi and Coruscant. The droids nearly decimated the Imperial fleet that had been posted there. The fleet reentered hyperspace toward Coruscant." Director Haasef was visibly nervous. "The Imperial fleet, led by a Commander Braega entered hyperspace moments behind them. Abeloth's fleet is also expected to be there. Thanks to newly discovered hyperspace routes Admiral Bwua'tu's and General Zdraekus' fleets should beat the droids to Coruscant. "

Hemir felt his blood nearly boil at the mention of the offspring-of-a-wampa-and-a-mynock's name. Braega was the leader of an Imperial terrorist group called the New Empire. The rotters had been responsible for the massed murders at multiple Jedi academies a few years ago. The coward ridden Galactic Empire had merely condemned the act and demoted him from general to commander. He should have been shoved out a bloody airlock!

"There is another engagement currently in progress at the Sluis-Van shipyards," Director Haasef said. "We expect the defending fleet to be wiped out within the next few hours." He turned to Tycho. "We need to learn more about this Abeloth creature," he said.

"She can be described as a Force entity," Tycho said. "She gains strength from suffering and can take over multiple peoples' bodies."

"At the same time?" Admiral Bwua'tu asked.

Tycho nodded. "And destroying all the bodies she's taken over won't destroy her. It will only put her into a type of dormancy."

"You have faced this entity before, then?" Jed Haasef asked.

"Well, not us specifically. But, yes. We believe that the only way to destroy her for good is with a weapon called the Mortis Dagger. Which we have. Stabbing one of her avatars with this weapon will hopefully destroy all the rest of her bodies."

"And then she'll be gone for good?" Admiral Bwua'tu asked.

"We hope so," Tycho said with a sigh.

"You sound somewhat unsure," the Devaronian said.

"There are stories of people called the Celestials. They are said to be immortal. Abeloth is similar to them. One of my ancestors, Anakin Skywalker, traveled to world where a family of three such people lived. There was some sort of altercation, and somehow all three ended getting stabbed by the dagger. They died."

"Many people have heard of the Celestials," Director Haasef commented. "You said she is similar."

Tycho nodded. "According to legend she was a mortal woman. She joined that family of Celestials. They did not age, but she did. So one day she swam in pool that granted immortality, but while it did make her immortal it also turned her into a monster. And made her powerful in the dark side. Centerpoint station and the similar, smaller Sinkhole Station had been created to trap Abeloth inside the Maw. "

"So she escaped when Centerpoint Station was destroyed?" Asyr asked.

"Centerpoint was keeping some of the black holes in place to keep Abeloth trapped. Its destruction weakened that containment, which then allowed her to plan her escape."

Jed Haasef seemed more or less satisfied with that explanation. "Now what about your daughter?" he asked. "You told Admiral Bwua'tu that she'd been cloned. Allana was captured only a few days ago. I don't see how clones could develop so quickly, even with the dark side."

"I have a theory," Hemir said.

"Please."

"Abeloth could have started off with clones of someone else. If she knew in advance that she'd be capturing my wife then the clones would be of a human female with DNA as similar to Allana's as could be found. We don't really know how long these clones would have been developing. And then DNA from Allana could've been placed into virus capsules. The viruses would've turned the clones' DNA into Allana's."

"That is more reasonable," Jed Haasef mused. "And Abeloth has somehow convinced the Silentium to do her bidding?"

"That seems to be case," Tycho agreed.

After a few moments General Zdraekus leaned forward to press a few buttons. "Our engineers have developed a device that can jam the signals the control ships use to control the fighters; this will significantly limit the enemy's abilities. And, assuming they'll be forced to retreat, they will be unable to recover most of their launched fighters. This device is based on the ones developed during the Yuuzhan Vong War to jam the signals from the yammosks."

_Tialga_

Inside the room were many cylindrical tanks, suspended about a meter above the floor, ending in cones. Floating in the tanks were human clones, writhing in agony. Electrodes implanted in their brains stimulated the nerves, causing this tremendous pain, and the amygdala, causing fear.

One of the cones opened as though it were a thrust nozzle, and one of the clones spilled out onto the floor.

She was cold and wet, lying on a hard surface. The pain and fear had subsided. She felt a presence approaching and turned her head to look. And the fear returned, stronger than before. She shrieked in terror.

A man in a tattered Galactic Federation uniform approached her. His glowing skin was coming off of him in flakes. The man smiled. Skin split as the smile widened so that it went from ear to ear. The eyes shrank and became sunk in and silvery. The left arm became a tangle of tentacles.

The clone's shriek became a strangled choking sound as some of the tentacles went down her throat. Others went into her nose and ears. She could feel something dark and vile going into her as the tentacles pulsed.

The man collapsed to the floor in a lifeless heap, the tentacles finishing their pulsing and slithering out of her throat, nose, and ears.

After a few moments of lying on the floor the clone stood up. And a pair of mismatched eyes crinkled in a cruel smile.

Chapter 7

Coruscant

Swarms of shuttles were currently in the process of ferrying personnel up to the ships that needed to be crewed. And civilian vessels were fleeing Coruscant in the thousands. Unfortunately, there many who didn't have the means to leave.

Some of the Star Destroyers evacuated from Kuat didn't have functional subspace engines, and were arrayed near the capital world of the Galactic Federation along with a number of Golan Defense Stations. Admiral Bwua'tu's fleet, since it included the _Vanquisher_ was stationed near Abeloth's expected entry vector. While Zdraekus' slightly smaller fleet would face the Bilbringi droid fleet. Commander Braega would be lending his support to the Verpine general's fleet.

Hemir rose up on his repulsors and then punched out of the magcon field. Abeloth's arrival had sent shivers up and down his spine; she felt more powerful, and more evil. He could feel the torment of the many clones of his wife. Every second they suffered Abeloth grew stronger. He did his best to block this; it would only distract him.

Hemir and his squadron of Made Jedi made their way to the top half of the _Vanquisher_, which they would be defending. Allana and her squadron would be protecting the bottom. All the Star Destroyer's batteries were blazing away. The shields rippled under the enemy bombardment. The captured _Tialga_ led a force of five circular _Lukrehulks_ against the _Vanquisher_. The smaller Star Destroyer should have been slag by now.

Hemir felt a cluster of Shadow TIEs heading toward the _Vanquisher_. He felt a sense of nervous anticipation from his squadron mates. Through the Force meld the pilots shared with him they felt the enemy approach also.

Tycho indicated his intentions through the meld. His squadron began deliberately getting Vulture droids on their tails. And while evading their fire, conducting strafing runs on the enemy capital ships.

"Could somebody get these blasted things off my tail?" the Jedi Master commed. He wished he could have just told them the plan, but they couldn't afford to have the droids overhear. A few moments later the two Vulture droids on his tail detonated. Tycho glanced at his chrono; thirty seconds until the jamming began.

Tycho's squadron lined up for a final run. Their X-wings dove straight at a _Munificent_-class star frigate. When the chrono reached one second they climbed. The Vulture droids crashed into, and then through the Separatist vessel's shields. The X-wings looped around back toward the massive ship and managed to get under its shields. The pilots blasted away at the shield generators, and moments after they fled the frigate was torn to shreds by a pair of Star Destroyers.

Tycho felt Abeloth's presence leaving the _Tialga_, in some sort of fighter. Artoo whistled in alarm. Tycho reached out toward the monster-he had trouble thinking of Abeloth as a 'her'-and felt seven lifeless points of energy. He checked the sensors. Shadow TIEs. They evidently weren't controlled by the droid ships, or at least could function on their own if need be.

Artoo gave descending whistle. Tycho looked down at the sensor display again. It was obvious that the one Abeloth was in had a cockpit. Along with Abeloth's was another familiar presence. One of his daughter's clones. Abeloth had taken over at least one of their bodies.

The five_ Lukrehulks_ drew ever closer to the _Vanquisher_, even though most of the droid fighters had been shut down. This gave Admiral Bwua'tu a very bad feeling. The droid control ships carried invasion forces. If such forces could not function, then why would... Some droid armies could function independently of a control ship.

"How many spare fighters do we have on board?" Asyr asked Zuul Zuzu.

"Let me check." She quickly typed in some things. "Fifteen. But none are fully-"

"Do the weapons and repulsors work?" she interrupted.

"Twelve."

"Put them in our most accessible hangar. And have our onboard soldiers ready for an incursion."

"Yes, ma'am." After communicating the orders she looked up at the admiral. "The jammer?"

"Something just doesn't look right."

"Blue Leader reports that Abeloth is approaching our location," said someone. That was Tycho's squadron. "And apparently the Shadow TIEs aren't affected by the jamming."

"And maybe those dang invasion forces," the admiral almost yelled. The officer relayed that to Tycho. "Don't let that thing aboard. Crash a whole dang Star Destroyer into her if you have to." She didn't know what this monster was up to, but it wasn't good.

"Yes, ma'am."

Asyr Bwua'tu sighed. She checked the tactical display. General Zdraekus and that Imperial mynock were doing a good amount of damage.

Seven Shadow TIEs, even with Abeloth in one of them, presented too easy of a target. It obviously some sort of trap. Tycho broadcast of sense of warning to the Force users and those sensitive to it, such as Zuul Zuzu.

Tycho's comm crackled. "Blue Leader," said the voice of the officer he'd spoken to moments before. "Admiral Bwua'tu says the invasion forces might not be affected by the jamming."

"They've found a way to beat the jamming," Tycho agreed. "I suspect the other droid fighters are 'playing dead'."

Not unexpectedly, as Tycho and his squadron mates cautiously approached Abeloth and her escorts, a squadron of tri-fighters came to meet them. The squadron turned to engage, and space lit up. Tycho felt one of his pilots vanish from the Force as a tri-fighter rammed her.

"We'll take over," Krayt, with the Twins tucked in behind him, commed Tycho. The three of them and a squadron of Made Jedi took up position behind the Shadow TIEs. That suggested that each of the Jedi had already lost almost two thirds of their squadron.

One of the Shadow TIEs succumbed to a turbolaser hit, while three of the Made Jedi managed to dispatch another. Trusting that the Made Jedi had things relatively under control Krayt and the Twins left to chase after Abeloth's fighter. They spread out and proceeded to bombard Abeloth's rear deflector shield. She seemed so intent on getting to the _Vanquisher_ that she wasn't even dodging, which she could've done easily enough. One of the Twins launched a proton torp, and it exploded against Abeloth's deflector shield. She'd have to eventually dodge, or risked getting vaped before reaching her target.

Suddenly, Abeloth's ship was gone. No. It was behind them. She had stopped suddenly, causing them to overshoot. Krayt and the Twins looped around to face Abeloth, their shields sparking madly as she fired at them. Tycho and Nelani came up behind her, shooting away.

Abeloth's Shadow TIE shuddered as its deflector shield continued to sustain hits. Her shields sparked angrily as they were grazed by a turbolaser strike. Through the Force she ordered a _Munificent_ to engage the Star Destroyer attacking her and six Vulture droids to harass her pursuers. She then put a _Recusant _to the task of ramming the _Vanquisher_ and took up position behind that ship as soon as she was able. All the attention devoted to the _Vanquisher _was making the rest of her ships more vulnerable, and she was starting to lose some of them.

Tycho wasn't sure why Abeloth was so intent on getting to the _Vanquisher_. Was she concerned that five _Lukrehulks_ lacked the resources… When Abeloth was fought over two centuries ago she'd managed to gain control of the computer core of the Jedi Temple. If she managed that with a _Vanquisher_-class Star Destroyer…

Those droid control ships were getting closer. And so was Abeloth. The _Recusant_-class light destroyer, being ripped to shreds by the _Vanquisher's_ turbolasers, was acting as a shield. "Abeloth wants to take control of our computer core," an officer told Admiral Bwua'tu. "Blue Leader says not to kill Abeloth by the computer core. That would help her possess it."

A relatively small section of the _Vanquisher's_ deflector shield shuddered as a droid control ship practically crashed into it. Trade Federation MTTs and ATTs spilled out of the ship. The droid vehicles turned toward a long, raised section on the topside of the enormous Star Destroyer and started firing.

The _Vanquisher's_ bridge shook again as ordnance went off nearby. It reminded Asyr of wars in ancient times in which one army invaded another's castle. And then the ship shuddered and groaned as another droid control ship made contact.

"Now," Abeloth said. What was left of the front end of the _Recusant _exploded and something shot out of it to explode against the _Vanquisher's_ shields. Abeloth zipped around the dying ship. Vulture droids and tri-fighters poured out of the ring-like control ships, taking turbolaser hits to allow Abeloth to reach her target. The Shadow TIE shuddered as vessels inside the hangar she was approaching opened fire. Her ship slammed into the deflector shield and except for its silvery blades began melting. It detonated, partially, as part of it passed through the deflector shield. A large flaming spherical object rolled toward the rear wall of the hangar. A young woman with long red hair leapt out of the Shadow TIE's cockpit as it exploded in a shower of flaming debris.

Abeloth twisted around in mid-leap and raised a hand toward the three fighters inside the hangar. She put up a Force bubble to protect herself from the resulting explosion and landed on the deck, holding two long, silvery blades. They resembled lightning bolts that would be thrown by some ancient deity.

Sensing that the Shadow TIE ahead of him was increasing output to its right engine Hemir fired a torp to the left. The droid flew right into it. As he looped around for another attempt at the hangar a Shadow TIE suddenly became a fireball. He felt satisfaction, and then alarm, from Allana as her flaming X-wing crash-landed into the hangar. Hemir made it in just in time to see his wife vaulting out of the damaged fighter before something inside blew up. Her astromech was a scorched ruin.

Hemir activated both sides of his lightsaber and configured his plasma cannon as he jumped out onto the flight deck. The Chiss Jedi joined up with Allana. As they entered the corridor Hemir aimed his plasma cannon up at the ceiling. "Destroyer droids."

Allana aimed her blaster at the ceiling, and as the ceiling was blasted apart the two opened fire. And batted red energy back at the ceiling with their lightsabers.

Hemir felt NightShade approaching, in his X-wing, and one of the destroyer droids was suddenly headless. He fired his plasma cannon at the other and it fell down, its 'chest' smoking. Hemir felt a huge machine coming toward them from above. "Be ready!" Hemir yelled to NightShade as he and Allana ran out of the corridor.

Tycho shouldn't have been surprised when he saw Abeloth, but he was. She looked just like his daughter, perhaps five years ago. In each hand was a long, silvery blade, resembling a lightning bolt. She leveled one of the weapons at Tycho, and he blocked a large blue arc of Force lightning.

Abeloth's other lightning blade crackled with dark blue, almost black, energy as it swung down on Nelani's and Krayt's lightsabers. Together, the two Jedi pushed back against Abeloth's weapon.

Enzetti and Tsetti turned around to engage two destroyer droids. Their lightwhips shielded them behind green nets of energy. Red lances of energy, deflected back at their sources dissipated on the shields of the droids.

The Twins couldn't dodge the fire, lest it hit Krayt or one of the Skywalkers. Tsetti's opponent's shield rippled as it was struck by her whip. She sent arcs of green lightning through the shield and the droid smoked and fell over. She and her sister quickly brought down the other, and turned to face Abeloth.

Four X-wings and one X-cpeter remained near the entrance to the hangar, blasting apart any ships that tried to enter. While NightShade, in Hemir's X-wing, fired another proton torpedo at the MTT. This one managed to get through the deflector shield. A second torp, fired a split second later pierced the thick armor plating, creating a large explosion inside.

Abeloth had realized that she was being chased into a dead end, and had started telekinetically ripping off hull plating and flinging it at the Jedi. They either flung it back at her or jumped out of the way.

Nelani and one of the Twins-Tycho couldn't tell which one-had made it past the flying debris, and were trying to get past Abeloth's lightning blades.

Abeloth managed to get past Nelani's guard and slashed at her. Her eyes rolled back into her head as electricity coursed through her body. Unlike lightsabers, these weapons apparently did not cauterize the wounds they inflicted. Before Nelani blacked out she managed to summon platelets to the wound to stop the bleeding. Tycho swung his free hand toward his wife, Force dragging her out of the way as Abeloth slashed a second time.

Abeloth made it to the end of the corridor and started slashing at the bulkhead with one of her blades, using the other to direct Force lightning at the Jedi and to block the fire from their blasters.

Abeloth stopped her hacking as one of the Yuuzhan Vong Jedi cracked a lightwhip at her. She let the whip wrap around her blade and then yanked, forcing the Jedi to let go. But not before her left arm, now a mass of tentacles shot out toward the Jedi. Tsetti screamed and then made gagging sounds as the tentacles wriggled down her throat.

Enzetti caught her sister's eye and felt her fear and sadness. And she knew what she had to do. Enzetti reached out her free hand and clenched it. There was a sickening crack, and then Tsetti's body went limp. She felt like a proton torpedo had just gone off inside her chest and shrieked. She dropped her whip and raised both hands toward Abeloth. Arks of green Force lightning slammed into Abeloth. And Tycho and Armedius moved in for the kill.

Hemir felt a sense of alarm from Allana, and a split second felt that his mother -in-law had been injured.

"NightShade," Hemir commed when he and his wife made to Nelani, "get over here." There was a roaring sound as an X-wing, barely fitting through the corridor, made its way over to them. Hemir and Allana helped Nelani into the X-wing.

"To the nearest viable medbay," Allana yelled.

Suddenly, the floor fell out from beneath Abeloth and the three Jedi fighting her. The Jedi fell through the hole, but Abeloth stuck one of her blades into the bulkhead behind her and lifted herself out. She stepped onto a remaining section of the floor and resumed cutting through the bulkhead. Beyond was a long corridor.

Tycho grunted as he heard and felt couple of his ribs cracking. Less than a second later he heard Armedius yelp. And Enzetti could be heard sobbing. The Jedi were up moments later; Armedius was hopping on his left foot. Tycho and Enzetti got to either side of him.

"There's a turbolift," Tycho said, pointing ahead. Abeloth hadn't yet taken control of the _Vanquisher_; he'd know when that happened. But even then the turbolifts would be one of the last things for Abeloth to take control of. Her first priorities would be the weapons, engines, and deflector shield.

"Admiral, we've lost control of the weapons," an officer shouted.

"Everyone out!" Asyr Bwua'tu shouted. She saw Zuul Zuzu running-at least what passed for running among Sullustans-for the exit. The admiral scooped her up, under one arm.

Weapons could be heard shrieking as the enemy droids, and their vehicles exchanged fire with the soldiers. The noise was steadily growing louder; the fighting was getting closer. The soldiers had given up trying to hold the ship and were just trying to get out. Most of them wouldn't, of course. The corridor shook as a bunker buster, probably, went off. Admiral Bwua'tu was stumbling up the ramp of a _Lamda_-class shuttle moments later as the floor shook.

Asyr would be leaving so many of her people behind. And that made her feel like bantha fodder. But, the Galactic Federation couldn't afford to lose someone of her skill.

"She did it," Hemir said. He'd felt the disturbance in the Star Destroyer's energy flow a couple minutes ago. And now Abeloth had a whole bloody _Vanquisher_-class Star Destroyer at her disposal.

"They're coming up," Allana told her husband as the two fought against a hoard of droids, while running backward. Their lightsabers blazed in defensive shields as red laser beams were deflected and crashed harmlessly against destroyer droid deflector shields. But only three Jedi made it out of the turbolift. One of the Twins was missing-not missing, but dead.

After making it into a corridor large enough for the X-wings and X-cepter the droids gave up their chase. "They know our fighters will get them if they follow us," Tycho explained as the Jedi scrambled into their fighters.

"She's gone," Allana told Tsetti's astromech. The droid tweedled sadly as the Jedi got in. Hemir, nearby, was getting into Nelani's X-wing.

As the five fighters turned around to exit the corridor and then the hangar, they deposited all their remaining proton torpedoes and set them to go off in thirty seconds. They zipped through the ruined wreck of the MTT, and as they flew out into space, corkscrewing, jinking, and juking, Allana reached out in the Force and clenched her fist. The one torpedo in her abandoned X-wing detonated along with the others.

Allana felt so many lives perishing. And so much fear and anger. Abeloth would be enjoying this, feeding on all the dark emotions. As Tsetti's X-wing oriented itself in the direction of Borleias-the emergency rendezvous point-Allana saw explosions erupting along the hull of the _Vanquisher_. The people trapped inside were doing all they could to do as much damage to the captured Star Destroyer as possible. People, some of them flailing, and debris were being sucked out into space.

Asyr Bwua'tu was convinced that in the three or so centuries since _Lamda_-class shuttles had existed there had never been this many beings inside of one. The lucky ones were sitting, practically on top of one another. While the unlucky-Asyr had elected to be among them-were standing with barely enough room to breathe. The passengers had been told only to breathe when absolutely necessary.

Next to the admiral, hunched over due to his height, stood a large Yuzzem in combat armor covered with blood. His fur was matted down by sweat. As was Asyr's fur. The Bothan admiral's attention was then brought to how awful it smelled. And she admitted to herself that she could bear a communal sanisteam just this once.

One of the shuttles launched from the _Vanquisher_ detonated as a Vulture droid flew into it. Hemir and Allana took up defensive positions to either side of the shuttle carrying Admiral Bwua'tu. Moments later the three ships were in hyperspace, and Hemir breathed a sigh of relief.

Borleias

Allana reached out for her mother the moment the three ships exited hyperspace. She was aboard a Mon Cal cruiser the _Krakana_. Capital ships and smaller vessels were dropping out of hyperspace. The fighters, shuttles, and some of the freighters were headed to the nearest capital ships.

Armedius settled his X-cepter onto the flight deck of the _Krakana _and closed his eyes for a few minutes. He'd been in love with both Enzetti and Tsetti. He couldn't possibly have chosen one over another. He had desperately wanted the situation to be resolved. And it had been. But this wasn't the way it was supposed to happen.

He heard a knock on his cockpit; Hemir stood at the top of the ladder that had been pushed up to the

X-cepter. The Chiss Jedi helped him down the stairs. Enzetti, her face wet from crying, stood at the bottom of the ladder. When Armedius stepped off the ladder-with Hemir's assistance-she draped his free arm over her shoulder. They helped Armedius over to a crate and, using whatever was available, proceeded to splint his leg.

Hemir looked around and saw the injured being carried by comrades and gurneys to makeshift medical centers. Many were screaming, others were missing limbs, others were just bloody messes, and there were combinations of everything in between.

Many people would be receiving artificial limbs. Hemir vividly remembered experiencing phantom pains after losing his left arm. Allana had pointed out to him that he had been rubbing his prosthetic left arm, as though that had been where the pain was originating. And of course, it was all in his head. They had both laughed about it.

Nelani lay on a gurney, encased in a sac with bluish bacta gel. The 'cocoon' was nearly opaque, except for the area around the face.

"It is amazing that your wife even survived," said the Bith medic. "The wound in her side was deep. And we had to remove her right kidney. She was almost electrocuted, and she sustained internal burns. But surprisingly there doesn't seem to be any neurological damage."

"She was wounded by a blade with Force lightning flowing around it," Tycho said. "I need to stay here with her," he told Allana and the medic.

Enzetti helped Armedius out of the hoverchair and onto a sofa. She sat down beside him and he put a furry arm around her shoulders. It didn't matter that it smelled a little like rotting fruit.

Allana and Hemir were seated together in a large stuffed chair, probably intended for a Wookiee. They were asleep.

"I have some idea of what you are feeling," Armedius said softly. "You must not close yourself off like this. You should let me in."

"I can't do that to you."

"I can handle it. We..."

Enzetti glared at him with moist, doubtful eyes.

"You should not do this to yourself."

"But… then I'll fall apart."

"Muscle tissue is ripped during exercise. It heals and then it is stronger. I will put you back together."

He gently pulled her closer. At first she resisted slightly. But, then she realized he was right. The gravity of her pain was like a punch to Armedius's gut; he was glad to be sitting down. Enzetti's end of the Force bond she'd shared with Tsetti was like a wire that had been cut, the end frayed and ragged.

Jula felt as though he'd been hit in the head with a hydrospanner. "Guess even Jedi can get migraines," he muttered to himself. He felt dampness under his nose and smelled something similar to iron. Starting to feel dizzy he sat on the floor and leaned against a bulkhead. And then everything went dark.

A few hours later Jonash and Koda were walking down the boarding ramp of the _Firefacet_. The older Jedi retrieved something from under his robe. He unwrapped as piece of fabric, revealing an artfully crafted dagger. Tycho picked it up and hefted it.

C-3PO came waddling down the ramp moments later. "Jedi Hodon, how good it is to see you."

"Likewise," Hemir said, shaking the droid's hand. Allana looked at her husband in slight amazement. Unlike everyone else she knew, Hemir didn't seem to find C-3PO the least bit annoying. And he actually liked listening to the protocol droid's stories. She wondered if their similar accents had anything to do with it.

A female officer Hemir didn't recognize was sitting on the edge of Jula's bed. Hemir waited until she was done talking to him. She stood up and walked away, crying. Hemir took her spot on Jula's bed. Although he'd known it would be so, he was still surprised at how horrible the chap looked. Jula had already been skinny. Now he was cadaverous, his cheeks hollow. His skin was pale, and there were bruises on his face. He looked so old. There was also a feeding tube in his throat. Jula had been Hemir's greatest student.

"Oy," Hemir said. "I know I'm not as cute as your last visitor." He wasn't quite sure how to talk to someone who was dying. "I want you to know that… um… you saved a lot of lives. You did good work."

Jula opened two pale, bloodshot eyes. He tried to speak, but managed only a rasping wheeze.

"It's alright, you don't have to talk," Hemir told him.

A Mon Calamari medic, with a large head and large bulbous eyes, approached. "It appears as though he is dying from exhaustion."

"His body couldn't handle the Force energy. The same thing will happen to all the other thousands of soldiers who used that bloody Jedi Juice."

Coruscant

Flaming debris, from damaged or destroyed starships, rained down upon the planet sized city that was the capital of the Galactic Federation. Many historians agreed that no other planet had changed hands as many times as Coruscant. The scraps had been tractored into low orbit by Abeloth's ships. She felt herself growing stronger as many of the unfortunate people who hadn't had the means to escape suffered and died.

Abeloth recognized that she was only a piece of her former self. Only the piece that had managed to hide itself within the core of the computer at the Jedi Temple. But she was far wiser that she had been.

She had deceived the Mechanical Ones into doing her bidding. They believed that she was the one they referred to as the Master. Abeloth had taken advantage of their belief that the holiest of geometric forms was the sphere. In had the form of an astromech, which was used to control a freighter, she had come to the Mechanical Ones. She had imprinted upon the minds of some of them the image of a glowing crystalline sphere. The Master had shown them how to attain power. The Master had shown them how great they could truly be.

And she had a better understanding of how to use the galaxy's technology. Once she acquired that which she feared, the one thing she knew for certain could destroy her, she would search for the rest of herself. Hopefully, that part had not been destroyed by that which she despised.

And then she would bend the galaxy to her will. And once that was accomplished she'd have the power to destroy Them. Those Ancient Ones which had slumbered for so very long.

Chapter 8

Borleias

Allana gently patted Artoo's dome as she and the other Jedi, except for her mother and Krayt, entered the pilot's lounge. Tycho and Admiral Bwua'tu waited there for them.

"How's mom?" Allana asked her father.

"I'll be getting her out in a couple days," Tycho said, radiating relief. "We'd keep her in for longer, but other people are going to need bacta, too."

"We were just recently contacted by the Chiss," said Admiral Bwua'tu. She sounded a wee bit surprised. "Mitth'ord'envar and some supporters of his have convinced the Chiss to help us in a strike against the fleet at Coruscant. They don't like how close this war has come to the Ascendancy."

The Chiss had a moral code against attacking first. They were fanatical about it. The Ascendancy had to be very worried about this droid army to make such an exception. Though, perhaps their moral code did not extend to droids.

The admiral turned to Tycho. "You said that one of Abeloth's bodies has to be stabbed with the Mortis Dagger. Would it be possible to kill her by stabbing the _Vanquisher's_ computer core?"

"Perhaps," Tycho allowed. "But all the hangars and other entrances into the ship would be very heavily guarded. As would be the chamber of the computer core. There might even be some sort of bomb set to go off in the case of an incursion."

"So that plan isn't viable, then?"

"No. However, I do believe you may be on to something. I first felt her presence on board a ship. This presence was not alive so I have to assume it was inside the ship's computer. Depending on where her consciousness was stored, plunging the dagger into the ship's computer might destroy her.

Coruscant

Thorden's fleet, en route from Ascendency space exited hyperspace within a second of the two other fleets, led by Admiral Bwua'tu and General Zdraekus. The fighters were already out so that time hadn't had to be wasted in their scrambling. The goal was to destroy the _Vanquisher_; Thorden had said that his fleet would be handling that.

If for some a retreat became necessary or advantageous the Galactic Federation vessels would retreat to Borleias. Commander Braega and his fleet were waiting to ambush the droid ships should they follow. The terrorist leader of the New Empire had refused to help in any other way.

The _Vanquisher's_ starboard batteries began blazing away at the fleets from Borleias when they got within range. The ship's systems didn't seem to be enhanced as with the other enemy ships. Thousands of clones of Allana would have been needed to significantly enhance the vessel.

The _Tialga_ led four _Recusant_-class light destroyers in an attack on Admiral Bwua'tu's fleet, led by the _Krakana_. Her current ship shook under a savage barrage of fire from the enemy Star Destroyer.

The number of Jedi pilots had gone from a few thousand to only twenty nine; more Jedi had come from the academy on Shedu Maad. And there had been pilots who hadn't been injected with Midichlore, either because they didn't believe it was safe or because the supplies had run out. The Empire and various related terrorist organizations had provided thousands of extra fighter pilots. And a few planets had sent pilots to fly the X-wings belonging to the Made Jedi-most of who were currently dying.

The _Dwinwoguin_, surrounded by four other Chiss Star Destroyers headed toward the _Vanquisher's_ left flank. A group of assorted droid vessels began pelting the Chiss vessels' shields with high powered bursts of energy. But overlapping deflector shields ensured the _Dwinwoguin's_ deflector shield didn't sustain any significant hits.

Swarms of droid fighters-some of which were Shadow TIEs-began harassing the Star Destroyers. Chiss Clawcraft, which somewhat resembled TIE fighters poured out to engage the droids. The Chiss pilots seemed to move as one as they destroyed droid fighter after droid fighter. Five of them had been Shadow TIEs.

Explosions began to erupt along the hull of the Star Destroyer nearest the assorted droid ships. That Star Destroyer broke off from the group and turned toward its attackers. Weapons blazed as it launched toward them. Some of the droid ships were forced to move out of the way so that they didn't get rammed.

The _Dwinwoguin_ and her three remaining escorts continued on toward their target more easily now since some of the droid ships had been forced out of position, and since they had to focus some fire on the Chiss Star Destroyer in their midst. There was a sudden flash of light. When it faded the area was filled with gigantic pieces of scrap metal. Thorden had three more Star Destroyers with which he could do this. He felt like a monster for ordering his people on a suicide mission.

The _Tialga _continued to blast away at the _Krakana_. Currently unnecessary systems aboard the Mon Cal vessel had been shut off to provide the deflector shield with more power. The darkened bridge of the Mon Cal ship was momentarily lit up by a sparking console. Thankfully, no one had been close enough to get burned.

Shortly after commencing strafing runs on the _Tialga _the Jedi had been met by around fifty droid fighters, ten of which were Shadow TIEs. About fifteen droid fighters had been destroyed-two were Shadow TIEs. And three Jedi had been lost already.

The presence of another Jedi pilot winked out. Fortunately, she managed to crash her X-wing, loaded with baradium missiles into the _Tialga's_ deflector shield. Hemir felt the weak spot in the deflector shield and fired a baradium missile of his own. He left the area to assist Allana and Koda in chasing a Shadow TIE, and some less experienced Jedi-not carrying baradium missiles-launched proton torpedoes at the weakened part of the Star Destroyer's deflector shield.

And then Hemir felt a sudden, stabbing pain in his chest as many clones of his wife suddenly died. The other Jedi in the meld would have felt it too. Such were the disadvantages of a Force meld.

The _Krakana_ and another Mon Cal cruiser began focusing some of their fire on the _Tialga's_ wound. Explosions began to blossom along the Star Destroyer's left flank. The main engine on that side detonated and within moments that side of the vessel was completely gone.

As Hemir, Allana, and Koda chased after that same Shadow TIE, he caught a glimpse of the battle at Thorden's end. The _Dwinwoguin _was on a collision course with the _Vanquisher_, its batteries firing nonstop. Thorden's Star Destroyer seemed to crumple as it hit its target. And fired gushed out of the many tears in the vessel's hull. The two Chiss Star Destroyers following behind directed all available weapons batteries on the impact site. Hemir searched the Force for Thorden; he was not to be found. Why the heck had _Thorden_, someone of such strategic value, been the one to do it?

The _Vanquisher_ turned her bow toward Coruscant as explosions erupted along the hull. Abeloth was going to crash a modern day Super Star Destroyer into Coruscant. The Force presence of the part of Abeloth controlling the Star Destroyer was fading away quickly, though. And then Tycho could no longer feel the monster's presence. "It's done," he commed to Admiral Bwua'tu.

Borleias

Commander Braega was quite satisfied with the way things were going. Bastion had been too moderate of a world. So it would be easier for the commander to push his own agenda. And the Galactic Federation had lost a great number of capital ships, and thousands of pilots. And he'd just received word that Coruscant, the enemy's capital had been lost.

Immense flashes of light appeared and resolved themselves into Star Destroyers and Mon Cal cruisers. More than Braega had hoped. The Galactic Federation vessels, many of which had been considerably battered, went well behind the Imperial vessels for protection as they turned about. Braega allowed them to do so. The extra fire power might prove necessary. The droid fleet dropped out of hyperspace soon after, without the _Vanquisher_ or the _Tialga_.

Commander Braega's fleet unleashed great salvoes of red fire. The Star Destroyers spread out as they moved forward. Gaps were created allowing the GF ships, many of which had sustained significant damage, to join in.

Commander Braega frowned as he looked out the forward viewport of his Star Destroyer the _Minotaur_. The droid fleet stubbornly continued onward, firing away with enhanced weaponry, as though they had intended to so all along. It was only slightly more powerful than modern weaponry. But when thousands of weapons were involved it made a significant difference. Fortunately, the greater quantity of weapons possessed by the Imperial/GF fleet kept them from being outmatched.

Droid fighters poured out of some of the droid ships, and were met by mostly three-winged TIE Defenders and X-wings.

"Sir, we're getting a lot of new fighter contacts. Shadow TIEs, I think. "

"How many?" Braega asked.

"One hundred maybe. But it's more like at least twice that much because they're so…" He trailed off as the _Minotaur_ shook under enemy fire. "They've increased output to their weapons."

The suffering of her clones that Allana had been feeling throughout the battle was starting to wear on her. And all the other Jedi in the Force meld as well. She felt another Jedi vanish from the Force as he failed to evade the blade of a Shadow TIE.

Allana felt a small point of energy in front of her. About the size of a buzz droid. Perhaps she was expected, by Abeloth and/or the Silentium-she wasn't sure, to evade it and fly right into a trap. So she reached out into the Force and clenched her left fist. Allana suddenly felt the energy stop flowing through the crushed droid.

Allana felt a sense of alarm coming from her husband. Less than a second later she felt a spike in energy from Abeloth's fleet.

Tycho's deflector shield sparked as it was grazed by a turbolaser blast. Artoo trilled over the comm. He could feel masses of people dying, including his daughter's clones. Eventually the clones would start dying from exhaustion. Could the GF/Imperial fleet hang on that long, though? But if they retreated where would they go. Could this be turned around? It was a long shot. It didn't make sense, but that was exactly why it _did_ make sense.

One of Admiral Bwua'tu's officers screamed as his terminal erupted into sparks.

"Multiple hull breaches. Shield strength; fifty eight," another officer said in a matter of fact tone.

So that's why the enemy fleet had pushed forward like that. The GF and Imperial ships had less room for evasive maneuvers.

"We just lost the _Kraken_," reported a sensor officer. "And the _Scorpionfish_."

Asyr Bwua'tu growled softly to herself. If the fleet was forced to retreat then Abeloth would take Borleias, too. She slapped the comm button as it started buzzing.

"I believe the source of these projections is on Coruscant," Tycho said, without preamble.

The obvious move would have been to assume that the source of the projections resided in the Tingle Arm. That was where the droid ships seem to have been taken before they attacked. And where the Silentium resided. It would take days for a fleet to reach there. And if it was a trap…

But it did seem as though Abeloth was forcing the GF/Imperial fleet away from Coruscant. And the plan was rather impulsive. It wouldn't be as easy for her to foresee.

"Shut up, Haasef." Admiral Bwua'tu said before the Director of Intelligence even had a chance to speak. She brought her attention back to Tycho.

"We need you to create a distraction so that we can get some X-wings to Coruscant. And the longer you can keep them busy the less likely it is that they'll be able to send some of their forces back to Coruscant. And I believe Allana's clones are about to start dying."

Admiral Bwua'tu sighed. It wouldn't be easy, and a lot of ships would be lost. But if Tycho was right about this then it could end this conflict. And she didn't see how they could win doing what they were doing. "I'll see what I can do," the admiral responded.

She thought about comming Commander Braega. But the cowardly dianoga would refuse to help and then suspect that she was trying to get his people killed. And while Asyr admitted that it wouldn't upset her if they did, since it would benefit the Galactic Federation in the long run, the main reason was that the Imperial ships were in better condition. But maybe it was good that he'd refuse to help. He might try to send an escort of TIE Defenders with the Jedi. What would the Imperials do with the Jedi once Abeloth was defeated? In that case Braega might actually volunteer. Better to stay clear of that wampa cave.

Commander Kres'gov'targus snatched up the comm. "Admiral Bwua'tu," she said. "Commander Sgovt of the _Dagger of Csilla_." She listened to the admiral a few moments. "Yes, we're still at Coruscant. Thorden told us to remain here to reduce the chances of enemy incursions."

The admiral spoke to her a few more moments. "And this Abeloth is some sort of Force user?" the Chiss commander asked.

"Yes."

Battered Galactic Federation vessels surged forward, their shields getting pummeled by the more powerful enemy fire.

"Wouldn't we have sensed another Abeloth presence if the source of the projections was there?" Hemir asked Tycho as they, Allana, and other Jedi dodged enemy ships and their fire as they headed to a hyperspace vector to Coruscant.

"That part was hiding in the Force. Only one part of Abeloth would be needed to coordinate her forces. And that was the part that wasn't hiding. And there was all that interference."

There was a sense of alarm from Koda as he ejected from his X-wing. Hemir wanted to turn around to help the kid. But it wouldn't do Koda any good if Hemir got vaped in the process. And what would he do, nudge the older Jedi toward a capital ship?

"Blast!" Tycho muttered as a shower of sparks erupted from the rear of his X-wing. He checked the diagnostics; the hyperdrive was in the red. According to Artoo there was a 98.34 percent chance that his X-wing wouldn't survive hyperspace travel.

Tycho felt a sudden sense of panic from Koda. Being careful not to blunder into any of the fire being exchanged he managed to get turned around. If Nelani could barely fit in the cockpit with him, as small as she was, then there was no way Koda could. But the X-wing did have a cargo compartment.

Coruscant

Jonash, Hemir, Allana, Enzetti and three other Jedi dropped out of hyperspace in orbit around the former capital planet. Over the next few moments twenty five other X-wings, none of which were piloted by Jedi entered realspace. Tycho had been unable to make it because his hyperdrive had been damaged. But fortunately, Jonash was the one with the Dagger of Mortis.

Still there were seven Chiss vessels engaged in a fierce fire fight with multiple droid ships on the verge of detonating. Jonash searched the Force for any signs of Abeloth. She-one of her, anyway-was there, in one of the ships about to detonate.

"Commander Sgovt," he said into the comm. "You must not destroy that droid control ship. That will only hinder our efforts to destroy our enemy."

"Understood," came the reply.

The bombardment continued on that enemy vessel, but only to disable it. Jonash led the Jedi toward the ship. Abeloth would know they had the Dagger of Mortis. And she'd also know by now that the Chiss weren't going to blast her to atoms.

Jonash felt Abeloth's presence rapidly moving away from the _Lukrehulk_. Through the Force meld he could feel the distinct energy signature of a Shadow TIE. Along with it was an assortment of droid fighters.

Abeloth's Shadow TIE was heading straight toward the Jedi. They'd have to disable the fighter without vaping it. It might be Abeloth's only current manifestation remaining. And then the galaxy would have to wait for who knows how long before the next chance to vanquish her permanently presented itself. And who knows what she'd learn in that time.

"Commander Sgovt," Jonash commed. "You can destroy that ship now; Abeloth's in a Shadow TIE."

"Acknowledged."

Like the previous Shadow TIE Abeloth had piloted this one also had a cockpit. The four wings straightened and then pivoted outward. The portions holding the blades also straightened; the silvery blades extended outward as to slash at the X-wings' deflector shields.

Abeloth's fighter began spinning as it came onward. Red and bluish energy flashed forward. Jonash, Allana, and Hemir stayed in front of the fighter, while Enzetti and the other three Jedi broke into pairs and moved to flank Abeloth. The non-Jedi pilots went to engage incoming droid fighters.

Jonash felt a flash of concern from Hemir. The sensors showed more droid fighters incoming. Fortunately, there was a swarm of Chiss Clawcraft in pursuit. Some of the droid fighters turned and managed to ram some of the Clawcraft. But other enemy fighters were vaped before they could follow suit.

Hemir frowned. The Chiss didn't seem to be fighting with the oneness they'd demonstrated earlier. Perhaps Tycho's tendency to see strange connections was rubbing off on him. But nothing could be done about it now.

Enzetti and the three Jedi were forced to break off their attack on the Shadow TIE in order to engage more incoming bogeys. But they'd managed to do some damage; sparks had begun erupting from the port side wing array. Port was relative of course, since Shadow TIEs lacked a definite left or right.

Hemir launched a missile toward the weakened area. A subtle squeeze of the hand detonated the ordnance before it could hit the ship. Then Allana focused laser fire at the weakened portion of the deflector shield. And Jonash continued to fire at the forward deflector shield. Through the Force meld Hemir continued to show Jonash and Allana where to fire without destroying the fighter.

Abeloth's Shadow TIE suddenly executed a wickedly sharp turn; Jonash's deflector shield rippled angrily as one of the hooks at the rear of the wing tore into his deflector shield. His astromech trilled over the comm. Jonash checked the diagnostics; shield strength was down to forty three percent.

The Shadow TIE was enveloped in flame as it hurtled toward the broken surface of Coruscant. Following behind were three X-wings. Jonash's deflector shield continued to spark as it was weakened by the planet's atmosphere.

Before it could crash to the ground the Shadow TIE abruptly leveled off. It fired at spot in the ground a few meters ahead. Dust was thrown up into the air as that area seemed to collapse. The cockpit suddenly disconnected from the rest of the fighter. As the Shadow TIE flew upward the spherical cockpit rolled forward and fell into the hole that had been blasted into the ground. Jonash figured she'd just blasted a hole in the roof of an underground building.

The cockpit of the Shadow TIE hit the floor with a loud, metallic clang. A hatch opened and a girl with long red hair scrambled out of it. To each of her vessel's hands Abeloth summoned a metallic weapon shaped like a lightning bolt. And then she turned and ran down a long corridor.

"I don't sense any sort of trap," Hemir said before he, Jonash, and Allana ran toward the hole Abeloth had made.

"That concerns me more than if there had been some sort of trap," Jonash commented drily.

"Perhaps Abeloth knows that I'd be able to sense such a trap," Hemir posited as the three Jedi jumped down into the hole.

Pink, green, and gold light filled the inside of the room into which the Jedi dropped as they activated their lightsabers. Jonash nodded his head to the right, indicating where he felt Abeloth. He and Allana moved to head down the long corridor through which their quarry had run.

But Hemir suddenly spun around and blasted a hole in the wall to his right. He led his wife and Jonash through the hole in the wall and activated the second blade of his saberstaff. Less than a second later a blue arc of Force lightning crackled against that second blade.

Allana suppressed a shudder at the face that the lightsabers illuminated. At first the face looked like a younger version of herself. Her face seemed so sweet and innocent. Was that vain?

Then the eyes seemed to sink back into her skull, and became tiny pinpoints of silver light. Abeloth smiled; the smile continued beyond her lips until it went from ear to ear. And then she opened her mouth, revealing long, black fangs. Her nose flattened until it was almost gone, and the hair became coarse and yellow.

The three Jedi quickly fanned out and began firing at Abeloth. She either batted back or deflected the blasts, and responded with more Force lightning. Jonash eyed Hemir's lightsaber. The two quickly exchanged weapons.

Allana and her husband moved to Abeloth's right, while Jonash went to her left. The lightning blades moved faster than what seemed possible.

Borleias

"Admiral, the _Bulwark _has sustained heavy damage; the shields are failing and the weapons systems are hitting critical."

Asyr felt horrible. That was General Zdraekus' ship. Like all the other ships the _Bulwark _was too far into Borleias' gravity well to enter hyperspace. He was going to die because of her. It was a stupid judgment call not to ask the Imperials for help. If they had agreed, perhaps it would be an Imperial ship that was about to be lost.

Braega's fleet was hanging back so that the Galactic Federation would take the majority of the losses. The GF would be unable to defend itself against the Imperial extremists that would no doubt take advantage of the crippled Galactic Federation. And the war against the Empire would be rekindled.

Admiral Bwua'tu studied Borleias' gravity well. By pushing forward her fleet was closer to the fringes of the gravity well. Part of her fleet would be able to escape to hyperspace. The Imperial fleet would be stranded. Unfortunately that too, would likely restart the war.

"Commander, some of the Galactic Federation vessels appear to be turning away from the battle. I think they're retreating, sir."

So that was why they'd pushed forward like that. Did the Federation really still hate the Empire that much? That they would risk losing this war against the droids just to hurt the Empire.

"Is there anything we can do about this?" Commander Braega asked.

The sensor officer shook his head. "We're going to have to stay and fight, sir." He remained quiet a moment. "The _Bulwark's_ about to be flotsam; General Zdraekus is on that ship."

"That may be good news, depending on how this whole sordid thing turns out."

"Yes, sir."

"Just shut up and see if you can turn it into good news."

Coruscant

Jonash was growing more worried by the minute. Abeloth didn't seem to be tiring, but the three Jedi were. It was only a matter of time until one of… And then he saw Hemir stiffen as one of Abeloth's sparking blades scratched his chest. The lightsaber clattered from the Chiss Jedi's hand as he hit the ground.

Allana felt a stabbing pain in her chest as Hemir's heart stopped. She reached out into the Force and visualized her heart beating. And as hoped their Force bond caused Hemir's heart to start again.

Hemir gasped and felt himself being Force pulled backward. One of Abeloth's blades slashed where his legs had just been. He configured his plasma cannon and fired a blast at Abeloth's head. And of course she twisted out of the way.

Yes, Jonash was glad that the younger Jedis' Force bond had saved Hemir's life. But it wouldn't make much difference if something didn't change.

Jonash felt Enzetti reaching out to him through the Force. The three Jedi backed away from Abeloth just as a quartet as red laser beams tore through the ceiling. Abeloth had just gotten away, again. The Yuuzhan Vong Jedi hadn't had much of a choice. At least this way, three more Jedi were...

Jonash could still feel Abeloth's presence. And as the smoke cleared, he could see a figure still standing. How in the worlds? He grabbed hold of the Mortis Dagger and charged at Abeloth. Jonash slashed down at Abeloth's left shoulder, and with his left hand brought the dagger down.

Abeloth grabbed onto the arm holding the dagger with a mass of tentacles. She squeezed and a sickening cracking sound came from Jonash's arm. His grip on the dagger loosened and Abeloth Force flung it at Allana. Abeloth let go of Jonash's broken arm and plunged the tentacles down his throat.

Allana grabbed hold of the Mortis Dagger through the Force and sent it back toward Abeloth. At the last instant she realized what Abeloth was planning to do and the dagger angled to the right to plunge into Jonash's chest.

His eyes glazed over and he went limp. But the body of Allana's clone still stood. Allana had made the wrong decision. The once mortal woman, who had become this abomination, would simply remove the dagger from Jonash's chest and… And then a sound that could not have possibly come from Jonash, did indeed come from him. His body rather. The body of Allana's crumpled to the ground along with Jonash's dead body.

All she had wanted was to be one of them. But she was mortal. She grew old while they did not. So one day, despite the adamant warnings, she swam in the stream. Though she did not become one of the Ones. She became this horrific monstrosity. Abeloth.

Abeloth had been abandoned because of what she had become. And she had been imprisoned for thousands of years in a place called the Maw. Abeloth had become angry and lonely. And that was how she would die.

These were the last thoughts that went through her mind as that ancient dagger was plunged into her new vessel's chest. Fiery pain erupted within her as her very essence was torn asunder. She had not foreseen this; the Jedi woman was supposed to destroy her old vessel.

Enzetti felt as though she'd been kicked in the stomach. It meant that Abeloth was gone. Forever.

Her astromech screeched at her over the comm, as the X-wing started losing altitude, and activated the repulsors. "Thanks, 'Clops." The Yuuzhan Vong Jedi took over from there and landed the X-wing.

Enzetti dropped down through the hole she'd made. She landed by the dead body of Allana's clone. Jonash's body had already faded into the Force. She bent down and deactivated both sides of Hemir's saberstaff, which lay nearby. Hemir and Allana were propped up against a wall; Allana was crying softly.

"I don't understand how she survived that laser barrage," Hemir commented.

"It wasn't full strength," Enzetti responded.

Borleias

"Commander, the shields can't take much more of this."

Braega slouched in his command chair. That dog Bwua'tu had left his fleet here to perish. Something sparked inside the bridge, and the room was suddenly plunged into darkness. Braega waited a few moments for the auxiliary lighting to come on; the room stayed dark. "Bugger."

The bridge of the _Minotaur_ suddenly stopped shaking. "They stopped firing, sir."

"Cease fire immediately." The Jedi had managed to destroy Abeloth, then. It wouldn't do to further antagonize the Silentium.

"Yes, sir," came the relieved reply.

Epilogue

_Krakana_ in orbit around Borleias

Within just a couple of days Coruscant had been reduced to a third galaxy world. It could take centuries to rebuild. A new capital world would have to be chosen; for the time being the Galactic Federation government would be headquartered on Borleias. Chief of State Herbert Brand was glad that he could bypass the Senate in this. _Or else it would be faster to just rebuild Coruscant. _

"As long as Moff Reige stays in power, Commander Braega won't have enough support to go to war," Admiral Bwua'tu said. "But Braega may try to change that."

"You think he'd the Moff killed?" the Chief of State asked.

"I wouldn't put it past him, sir. He's done far worse."

"True, but couldn't that result in an internal war within the Empire?"

"If the majority of the Empire is as moderate as it appears, then yes. But then Braega wouldn't try it."

"Preventative measures are wise. I will contact the Moff when we're done here and warn him to be careful."

"Thank you, sir."

Lying in the hospital bed was a young woman with long red-gold hair, a button nose, and a pair of mismatched eyes. Allana sat on the side of the bed, holding her hand, and the two just stared at each other.

Allana's clone was growing weaker by the moment. Her short lifespan was due to the rapid maturation process and torment the girl underwent. Abeloth had created this life and many others just to make them suffer and to feed off of that pain. Most of the girl's short life had been spent in torment and misery. Allana sent feelings of warmth to the dying clone. And she watched herself die. How many other clones of hers had died or were dying, right now? Allana felt almost as though she had lost a child. And that was really what her clone had been.

Hemir found Allana in the medical ward. She had her dead clone's head resting in her lap and was obsessively stroking her hair. Her husband sat down beside and watched the clone's body disappear into the Force. He wiped some of the tears from her face.

"At least she knew someone loved her. Some people go their whole lives…" he stopped because of the lump that had formed in his throat. Only minutes earlier he'd been sitting with Jula, holding his hand as he died.

Shedu Maad

Allana handed the cleaned Mortis Dagger to her father. Tycho gently placed it upon a stand and Nelani closed the transparisteel cover of the display case.

"You made the right decision when there was too little time to think. Had you not acted as you had Abeloth may have become unbeatable. That is the act of a Jedi Master." He kissed his daughter's forehead. She was now a Jedi Master.

Hemir had never been more proud of Allana.

The adventure continues in Star Wars Aftermath.


End file.
